Was actually a great article on this last week:
https://dynomight.substack.com/p/liver
replyDiscussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832938
Cancer is the price we pay for complex multicellular life. It’s not a failsafe, it’s the failure of all failsafes to regulate cellular growth within an organism.
replyLarger mammals with many more cells have additional protections against cancer
replySuch as longer and more numerous telomeres
Hence why the human situation stands out to me and can’t be reduced to “it just is“. Some other mammals have it worse though
> wondered whether cancers in humans are a failsafe
replyI don't think so, but in the context of theories that are more-interesting than "stuff just breaks sometimes", I'd like to suggest the atavistic aspect.
Some cancers resemble a return towards unicellularity, as if "newer" multicellular rules have broken down. Not in any remotely-effective "our genes shall survive the dark times as goo" way, though.