#TimPool: We should focus on a cultural endeavor. The #SpaceRace was fantastic. A mission for people to grow up and...admire.
I wonder what he thinks about #JoeBiden's #CancerMoonshot project. Getting rid of cancer is a good thing.
@realcaseyrollins The problem with the cancer moonshot is that there’s a good chance it’s just not possible.
The space race was an engineering problem that was pretty well-understood. Sure there would be new developments needed along the way, but the physics of launching into space had been pretty settled.
It’s not the same for cancer, though. There is still so much unknown about how it actually works in bodies, and a good chance that it will be impossible to eliminate.
In the end there is a real possibility that should the cancer moonshot be engaged and then fail it will lead to generations of people being discouraged. It can honestly do harm, not simply be neutral.
Those downsides need to be taken into account.
I would approach it in the other direction: It’s not whether it is unsolvable but whether it is solvable.
Like I said above, there is serious downside risk to attempting the project and that needs to be taken into account. If it can’t be shown that it is actually solvable, realistically solvable, then that downside risk needs to be factored in.
To build on what I said above, the proposal that we put a man on the moon was based on physics that we understood. We could prove that it was possible technically. We knew that it was definitely solvable.
It’s not the same for cancer, though. We don’t know that it is solvable.
@realcaseyrollins Well it’s really complicated because there are so many factors going into it.
Just to name one thing, people are living longer now than they lived 100 years ago, and the longer you live the more opportunity you have to develop cancer.
Or here’s a different thought: what if we discover that cancer is caused by some lifestyle change that people won’t be willing to give up anyway? What if it’s discovered that cancer is caused by electricity? Even if we figure that out, we won’t be able to get rid of cancer because people would not be willing to make that trade.
I could go on and on, but in the end it’s not certain that we would even be able to figure out such a cause, plus even if we manage to figure out such a cause, it’s not certain that we would be able to figure out a solution.
It all highlights how uncertain it is that it would be possible to solve cancer at all.
@volkris IDK. I don't think cancer was this common 100 years ago. Something is causing it, I would presume, and I would also presume that cause can be stopped.