MAKING SENSE OF CANCER

Breivik, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo, reconsiders the quest to eradicate cancer.

According to the Norwegian author, very few cancer researchers working today believe that the complete eradication of all forms of the disease is a plausible goal. Indeed, he says, it’s certain that in the future there will actually be more, not less, cancer in the world. Much of what the general public believes about cancer, he says, is either completely false or only partially correct; for example, he says, cancer is not the consequence of “just faults in the machinery,” but rather due to the natural selection of mutated genes. Of course, one can lower one’s chances of getting cancer through various lifestyle choices, but these measures provide little guarantee—an unflinching observation that’s characteristic of the author’s sobering analysis. Cancer becomes more likely as we age, and as lifespans continue to increase, so will cancer incidence; therefore, the only cure for cancer would have to be a cure for aging. “Either way—aging or cancer—we are doomed. But this gloomy fact is neither due to evilness nor bad luck. The cause of cancer is a fundamental consequence of the way we reproduce ourselves….We are temporary cell colonies made by our genes to pass them on to the next generation.” Breivik furnishes a remarkably accessible account of cancer in light of evolutionary theory while calmly debunking several widely held misconceptions about the disease. He also reflects deeply and critically on the interpretation of death as an evil to be overcome, rather than a natural, necessary part of life.

As the book goes on, Breivik does acknowledge the possibility that enormous leaps could be made in human longevity, either by advances in regenerative medicine or by artificial intelligence, that could permit consciousness to be preserved independent of our physical bodies. But he wonders, with lucidity and philosophical depth, if these are moral advancements as well as technological ones: “The solution to cancer is possible, but it does not include human beings. At least not people of flesh and blood….Aging, cancer, and death are fundamental aspects of being human. If we eliminate this circle of life, we eliminate ourselves.” This is, of course, both an unconventional and controversial view, but it’s one the author articulates with an impressive boldness and without sensationalism; indeed, readers will find that the entire work is a model of intellectual caution. The scientific descriptions of cancer are not mere simplifications designed for readers seeking easily digestible fare; such text will certainly challenge those who lack backgrounds in the relevant science. That said, the descriptions are as clear as one could hope, given the prohibitively technical nature of the subject matter. Overall, Breivik delivers an edifying book that reveals much about cancer (and the medical industry’s approach to it), but he also meditates profoundly on larger matters, including the very meaning of human life itself.

An engaging book that’s both scientifically exacting and philosophically stimulating.