Cancer — The Seed and Soil

Cancer growth depends on both genetics and the environment

For 50 years, cancer was considered to be caused primarily by genetic mutations. This line of thinking got us almost exactly nowhere. As the research began to repudiate the main tenets of the Somatic Mutation Theory (SMT) of Cancer, competing hypotheses gained attention. The SMT’s main premise was that cancer is derived from a single somatic cells that has accumulated a bunch of genetic mutations that allow it to become immortal. The main cancer causing genes are termed onco-genes and tumor suppressor genes.

This is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.

What does this mean? Well, imagine yourself stuck in the middle of a forest. All you see are trees. It doesn’t seem so great. It’s just a bunch of trees like you find in your backyard. Here’s a tree. Here’s another tree. Here’s a third tree. What’s the big deal? But, if you could see the Amazon rainforest from a helicopter, you could then appreciate the beauty of the entire forest.

The same problem happens if you read too close. Imagine that you are reading this blog post but have mistakenly zoomed in by 700%. You can’t see more than a few letters. Can’t see much. Gibberish. By looking too closely, you have missed the entire point of the passage. You need to…