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What Cancer Is

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Cancer, Complexity, Computation

Part of the book series: Emergence, Complexity and Computation ((ECC,volume 46))

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Abstract

The problem of cancer is examined from the metaphysical standpoint of essence and ground. An essentialist definition of cancer is assumed that would be valid in all possible worlds in which cancer could logically exist. The grounds of cancer are then examined and elucidated. Two grounding cancer properties are identified and discussed: symmetry-breaking and computational intelligence. Each examination leads to concrete conclusions for novel therapeutic approaches and a more fundamental understanding of what cancer is at bottom. Other possible cancer grounding properties related to evolution, adaptability and stochastic features are identified for future work. This approach is novel and offers new solutions to the problem of cancer.

…it seems to me that I must consider as contained in the individual concept of myself only that which is such that I should not longer be me if it were not in me: and that all that is to the contrary such that it could be or not be in me without my ceasing to be me, cannot be considered in my individual concept.

Letter from Antoine Arnauld to Gottfried Leibniz [1].

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A canyon with vertical walls and closed upstream with a similar vertical wall, that is, a dead end.

  2. 2.

    Viral and other external (e.g., radiation) modifications of the host’s molecular machinery that lead to cancer are a subcategory.

  3. 3.

    Cancer has indeterministic properties as well, for example, random mutations related to its origin and evolution, and the stochastic binding of transcription factors to their genomic sites. The overlap and interplay of deterministic grounds and non-deterministic features await further research.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the many individuals who brought me to the field of cancer and its manifestations in information science, physics, complexity and computation. They are Donald Coffey, Eshel Ben-Jacob, Kenneth Pienta, Shawn Lupod, William Issacs and others from The Johns Hopkins University and the Brady Urological Institute. Finally, I thank Ms. Nina Frost for her expert editing work.

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  1. Professor emeritus, BioMolecular Imaging, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    J. James Frost

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  1. University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Igor Balaz

  2. Unconventional Computing Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Andrew Adamatzky

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Frost, J.J. (2022). What Cancer Is. In: Balaz, I., Adamatzky, A. (eds) Cancer, Complexity, Computation. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04379-6_1

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