“The problem lies not so much in developing new ideas, but in escaping from old ones” John Maynard Keynes
By 2009, it was clear that the somatic mutation theory (SMT) — that cancer was simply a random collection of genetic mutations — was leading exactly nowhere. Billions of research dollars and decades of work yielded virtually no useful treatments. So, in an uncharacteristically open-minded and insightful move, the government decided to do something very smart. It asked for help. But where to get that help? The National Cancer Institute (NCI) was already giving millions of research dollars to cancer biologists, cancer researchers, geneticists, physiologists, doctors etc. No, in a rare moment of clarity, the NCI decided that in order to think ‘outside the box’ you needed people who professionally live outside cancer’s box. Cancer researchers and doctors were so far in the box, they couldn’t see outside.