30 January 2021: Curing Cancer, Part 1 – Reductionism versus Complexity
Written: 8 December 2020
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon announced the beginning of the US “war on cancer” (see President Nixon’s 1971 State of the Union at 15:03). Despite massive government expenditures (Kolata: Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe, New York Times, 27Jun09) and testimonials that the war on cancer “did everything it was supposed to do” (NCI: National Cancer Act of 1971, accessed 10Nov20), cancer is still a leading cause of death (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2016, Cancer Statistics 2020), with high mortality from cancer of the lung, colon, pancreas and breast (Cancer Facts & Figures 2020).