I just learned about a new “surprisingly simple” way to fight cancer:
When we diagnose cancer, the treatment is still primarily surgical, commonly combined with radiation therapy and anticancer drugs. The aim of these treatments is to suppress, or arrest, the unrestrained growth of cells in the body organs or tissues. In the case of many man-made systems we are similarly faced with situations where processes deviate from the normal operation of the system. But the remedy for such deviations is surprisingly simple: negative feedback.
Hmm, feedback. I do hate cancer and I do love modern control theory! Tell me more!
Negative feedback means that the system’s output is fed back into the same system in order to enable the system to determine the difference between the actual and the desired output, and to make the necessary corrections in its own operation. For example a vehicle’s speed control uses the difference between the actual and the desired speed to adjust the fuel flow rate. Those systems which feed back their own output for self-regulation are said to be closed-loop control systems.
Yup, I get that. I use the cruise control all the time.
So how can a human being transform himself into a closed-loop control system for the proper regulation of his cell production? The answer is the feedback of his body’s genetic output.
My genetic output? Wouldn’t that be, uh…
What is the genetic output of his body? Answer: the reproductive cells.
eeeeewwwwww!
Aside from the idea carrying a high ick-factor. It almost makes sense. First you have to ignore that the body’s genetic output is roughly the entire body. Then you have to wonder if the body is really capable of working that way. Can the body differentiate between “genetic output” and food? Can it then differentiate between its own “genetic output” and someone else’s? Could the “genetic output” of a cancer free man be used as a treatment for a woman with cancer? Oooh! now I see the logic behind the pseudoscience.
