Presented at the American Association of Cancer Research “Evolutionary Dynamics” Conference, Tampa, Florida, 15 March 2022.

Poster Session PDF

Abstract: All cells exhibit agency and evolve purposefully. This is why cancer has outwitted doctors for 100 years and why Stage 3-4 patients are no better in 2022 than in 1930. Evolution was presumed to be random and purposeless, yet all cells possess cognition (Shapiro 2020). Cell behavior is normally algorithmic, but uniquely responds to novel situations. This is what makes evolution (and cancer) possible.

Cognition—sensing and responding to the environment—is the unifying principle behind the genetic code, origin of life, evolution, consciousness, artificial intelligence, and cancer. Thus the central question in biology is: What is the nature and origin of cognition?

A solution to the origin of the genetic code, for which the presenter’s organization offers a $10 million prize, announced at the Royal Society in 2019, is an unsolved cognition problem. This choice is a non-deterministic action of a free agent with sensory capacity and memory. It is not computable from prior states. As well as reading and reacting to its environment, it anticipates future threats, chooses goals and reasons inductively. Computers do none of these things.

This new model explains the futility of reducing most diseases to a single random or algorithmic component, and suggests we should treat cancer as an autonomous purposeful agent with unique identity and capacity to choose.

Poster Session PDF

Biology transcends the limits of computation (PubMed 2021)

References

American Association for Cancer Research -_Special Conference: Evolutionary Dynamics in Carcinogenesis and Response to Therapy – References

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70 Prominent Scientists Propose a Radical New Approach to Curing Cancer

OXFORD, England, Feb 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — New breakthroughs in scientific research are challenging the traditional approach to treating cancer. That’s the view of a group of 70 scientists, chaired by Denis Noble, creator of the first 3-D model of the heart, longtime author on evolutionary change, and scientific advisor to the $10 Million Evolution 2.0 Prize, sponsored by Natural Code.

While most people assume that cancer treatments have seen constant innovation and advances, astonishingly, stage four cancer patients are not much better off today than in 1930, despite the more than 5 Billion dollars spent annually on cancer research. Rather than destroying cancer, chemotherapy and radiation often trigger aggressive growth. (sources: National Cancer Institute, The First Cell by Azra Raza).

A group of 70 respected scientists from a group called The Third Way of Evolution are calling for a fundamental review of the way the medical system studies, views, and treats cancer.

Columbia University oncologist Azra Raza, author of The First Cell comments, “Cancer cells resist radiation and chemotherapy via remarkable built-in evolutionary toolkits. They respond to threats at tremendous speed. It’s time for textbooks to report this, and for practicing oncologists to factor this into patient treatment protocols.”

Unfortunately oncologists have long been taught from antiquated textbooks that ignore many recent discoveries, while millions of cancer patients continue to die each year.

Bernhard Strauss, chief editor of the book Rethinking Cancer, says: “Scientists like Denis Noble and The Third Way are certainly right in demanding new textbooks. It will answer many currently unresolved questions in biology…and enable innovative approaches to explaining and treating cancer.”

According to respected Oxford scientist Denis Noble, “We will never understand cancer until we recognize how tumors adapt on an hourly basis, but if we show our pre-med students how the human body directs its own evolutions, it will forever transform how they practice medicine.”

If these findings are studied further within the medical and scientific community, future generations will likely be able to detect cancer much earlier, and doctors may finally have access to more effective treatment options.

Natural Code is a private Investment group formed to identify a naturally occurring code. Its mission is to discover, develop and commercialize core principles of nature which give rise to information, consciousness and intelligence. Natural Code is sponsor of the largest award in basic science history.

Once I was listening to an NPR radio station and someone called in on the phone and asked the famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, where did life come from? He glibly replied “It was a happy chemical accident.” Then he and the show host went on as though the person was asking what flavor of jelly he prefers on his toast.

I was aghast at his answer. For years, I was inclined to categorize life’s origin as the furthest from a “chemical accident” as you could possibly get; a literal divine miracle. Honestly, I think that’s a better answer than “happy chemical accident” but, in time, I became dissatisfied with that too.

After the Unbelievable? show posted a discussion between Jeremy England and Paul Davies, they asked me to write a blog describing how I see this issue now as founder of the world’s largest science research award.

These are my thoughts: https://www.premierinsight.org/atheists-creationists-both-wrong-origin-of-life

Perry

Real-life diary of a longtime colleague and client whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer only a few weeks ago

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Visiting plastic surgeon #2 to discuss mastectomy reconstruction…

Strike 1: No directions other than Read more »

The world’s 5 most popular evolution books are: College textbook Evolution by Douglas Futuyma; Selfish Gene, Extended Phenotype and Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins; and Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne. All sidestep and even dismiss the most vital discoveries of evolutionary biology. This Infographic details their omissions. (Click here to download PDF)

Stage 4 cancer patients are not much better off today than in 1930 despite the US Government spending $250 billion on cancer research.¹ We’re also losing the antibiotics arms race against bacteria. Bugs evolve into superbugs in minutes; we don’t adequately understand why.

These problems stem from an inadequate understanding of evolution. A prime reason cancer treatments fail is that tumor cells evolve at tremendous speed by a self-governing process. Chemotherapy and radiation often trigger more aggressive cancers because cells evolve actively; not passively, slowly or accidentally.

Yet today’s five best-selling popular evolution books say little about these high speed systems, omitting some of the most valuable discoveries of the last 100 years.

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Sam Devis, host of the “When Belief Dies” podcast mentioned “Perry Marshall” to evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne. Sam was unprepared for Coyne’s reaction:

https://youtu.be/ERV4urQ-Y-o?t=1881

Why is Coyne so upset? After you watch this video clip, check out this infographic comparing Coyne’s book Why Evolution is True to current literature.

Related:

• Two papers by James Shapiro (University of Chicago) and Denis Noble (University of Oxford), “Illusions of the Modern Synthesis” and “What Prevents Mainstream Evolutionists From Teaching the Whole Truth About How Genomes Evolve?” 
• Jerry Coyne’s “Review” of Evolution 2.0 and my response to his “Review”

The infographic “What Popular Evolution Books Ignore” details glaring omissions of bestselling books by Richard Dawkins, Doug Futuyma and Jerry Coyne. These authors provide misleading and oversimplified accounts of evolutionary mechanisms. Their omissions are hindering progress in cancer and disease research. All aspects of biology and medicine suffer as a result.

The question you naturally ask is, “Which books accurately report evolution?” The following list is a good start: Read more »

The world’s 5 most popular evolution books are: College textbook Evolution by Douglas Futuyma; Selfish Gene, Extended Phenotype and Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins; and Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne. All sidestep and even dismiss the most vital discoveries of evolutionary biology. This Infographic details their omissions. (Click here to download PDF) Read more »

Two of Charles Darwin’s best ideas – rubbished for a century – turned out to be right all along. Join me and Oxford professors Paul Flather and Denis Noble for this 15 minute mini-documentary at Darwin’s Downe House estate in Kent, England: