WHY do we get cancer? Is there some reason for it other than biology?

There have been some very interesting and moving threads and posts here recently on the why or wherefore of things: namely, the kind of perspective(s) we could or should be having about this disease, as well as the matter of "What's it all about?"

The thing they have had in common is a simple question: looking past the biological aspect of this, is there some deep, existential reason WHY we got this illness?

I've just been wondering how many of us at times have stayed up late at night, looking out into the darkness, and asking ourselves, over and over, if there was some kind of REASON as to why we got this thing, other than a biological one. Did it happened to us for a REASON? If so, WHAT reason?

And, as noted, I don't mean a biological reason, or biological causality process. That's just the how, not the why, of the whole thing, the A-then-B-then-C of getting this thing. I mean, why did the biological process itself begin, or have to begin, at all? That is, what started this whole thing, and why?

The survey above offers some possible answers to this eternal question, so pick one you like, if you wish. Or, post and tell us below about another one that you think is better.

Me? I'm a destiny guy. Person A suffers from a certain bad thing while Person B doesn't. That's because it's A's turn to endure and learn from that bad thing, while B has already done so, and, as he handled it well before, he is now excused by the cosmos from having to deal with it again. Or, B has yet to experience it, but his time to do so is coming.

And to handle a bad thing well, whatever that means, that is, to overcome it, to master it in some meaningful way, imparts the person who does so with a sort of immunity to having to experience that bad thing ever again. He conquered it, and in doing so it is now history, never to enter his life again, in this world or another.

Sort of like passing a course in school. Maybe you never even liked that course. But once you've passed it, and it becomes part of your record, you never have to take that course again. Same with a particular act of suffering here in this world. Handle it well, and you banish it, it never enters your life again.

Of course there are many other theories that make just as much sense. So if you have one of them, please feel free to post it, and lets discuss: WHY did we get this thing. Or HAD to get this thing?

I have to believe that for many of us, if we just knew the why of having to deal with bad things, such as this beast, just that in itself would make dealing with matters of suffering all that much easier.

I'm not qualified to give an authoritative answer on this but my layman's understanding is that it is mainly biological. For the vast majority of the history of life on Earth, organisms have been unicellular. A cosequence of the development of multicellular organisms is that sometimes cell division goes out of control. That is cancer. Very simplified explanation, but fairly accurate, I think.

interesting thread -- many of the doctors we asked about this along the way said inflammation. i want to say genetics played a strong role in my husband's diagnosis b/c his dad died very young from the same dreadful disease. but then someone gave me this book about cancer & now i'm thinking stress could have played a major part as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Well-Again-Bestselling-Revolutionary/dp/0553280333

I would like to believe it is random but I really think it's a combination of genetics, diet, environment and personal habits. Of course within those it really may be random anyway....

Jim

Nobody is really going after the existential question buried in the OP, I note. To throw a term at it, there is a potential with the question of veering into theodicy, which is the effort to justify the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient God in the face of evil.

We get cancer because we live long enough to get it. I recall an essay one of my daughters wrote in response to the question, "Why is there so little breast cancer in Ghana?" The response went something like this:

Worldwide, one in 10 women above the age of 50 will develop breast cancer. (Please guys, don't jump on the statistic, it may not be correct). Let's suppose a girl child is born in Ghana. Of her age-gender peers in her village, she is only 1 of 3 who survive to the age of 5, the rest die of cholera or dysentery, or malnutrition. Then, she manages to grow to adulthood without contracting AIDS, because she chooses the one boy her age who decides that sexual fidelity is important to him. Then, she has several children, and she has good enough medical care to not die in childbirth (like her mother did with her younger brother) and lives to see her children grow up.

Then, finally, in her 51st year she finds a lump in her breast. Of her age and gender cohort, she is on of 2 in 10 who she grew up with who lived long enough to develop the disease.

We get cancer because it's part of the human condition to get it, if we live an average life and live long enough.

There could be a whole theological discussion around this concept, for another place, another time.

Otherwise, I've never really felt a metaphysical aspect of this. I'm sure I've offended the universe in many ways, but whether it is wreaking revenge upon me for it is ultimately unknowable. I don't spend any mental bandwidth on that!

The actual development of cancers seems to be simply biomechanical. I can't believe cellular reproduction works at all, let alone as nearly perfectly as it does. There must be a lot of self-correction ability in our cells for molecules as phenomenally complex as DNA to copy themselves as they do. DNA, RNA, mitochondrial DNA, and on, and on; it's just staggeringly complex. We can watch cellular division, mitosis, happen at a gross level under a microscope, but if one considers the actual events happening on a molecular level it is mind bending.

As we learn more and more about the cellular machinery, the genomics, I think we'll find more of the specific errors that lead to erroneous and runaway cell replication, i.e. cancer. It seems virtually any cell in the body can go cancerous, so likely something is common to all cells that leads to it. Maybe chemicals stress these reproductive processes, maybe cosmic rays, maybe stray radiation of various types hit a DNA molecule at a critical point, or critical time, that makes the reproduction go sideways. There are undoubtedly environmental factors, but likely those interplay with existing genetics, or even induce the genetic errors.

But no, I don't think it's karma or anything mysterious.

You guys are trying to raise doubts that Agent Orange triggered my cancer some 40 years later.

Please...dont tell the VA ;-)

Random is one thing the multiverse....is not...in my view....

Happiness or lack of effects our immune system in ways we currently cannot comprehend, very few can turn a switch and change who we are.

Interesting.

The overall tenor of the responses to this thread so far is confirming a feeling I have long had about the general character of the regular members of this forum. Namely, that most of us here are of a scientific bent (engineers, scientists, computer specialists, and the like), and who thus lean toward a pragmatic, empirical view, without much interest in the metaphysical aspect of things.

But you know what? That's fine. It's the sensible approach to things, and it has the very useful quality of producing practical ways of facing and dealing with life challenges, such as confronting this PCa beast. Such an objective approach produces logical conclusions, always of great value in making judgments on how to proceed in dealing with the beast. Let's call these people the Realists.

Then there are the Dreamers, people like me, who spend their careers in places like universities, where ideas are the currency, and in areas such as mine (Humanities) where adventures of the mind, and often pure and simple imagination, reign supreme.

And you know what? That's okay too.

It isn't a matter of one versus the other, of Realists vs. Dreamers, but of exploration, of the sifting and winnowing of viewpoints, from which everyone can benefit.

Maybe there really is a Plan out there in the universe in which destiny or karma operate. Or maybe it really is only just the play of atoms and forces, and the entirely objective conclusions that we draw from observing them.

But the important thing is the knowledge, and hopefully the wisdom, that we can all draw from considering and learning from all the viewpoints that are presented.