Cancer’s Intelligence
J. James Frost
Cancer is analyzed as an intelligent system of collaborating and computing cells. The limitations of the current regime of cancer research and treatment are addressed, and the resultant need for new paradigmatic thinking is presented. Features of intelligence pervade the natural world from humans to animals of all sizes and complexity to microorganisms. Yet, cancer has hitherto not been investigated as acting with intelligence as it evades the body’s and the oncologist’s failed attempts to eradicate it. In this analysis, concepts of computation, including self computation and the limits of computation; game playing; e-machine analysis; self-aware systems; P and NP-hard problems; and Boolean networks are addressed and related to features of cancer that can be described as intelligent. The implications of the developed theory of cancer’s intelligence are discussed, together with several signposts and recommendations for new cancer research.
Keywords: Cancer, intelligence, computation, game theory, Boolean network