Time is therefore a key organizing principle that is often overlooked when traditional (reductionist) approaches to cancer are used. Cancer is seen here as molecular level mistakes that cause cells to regress to the wrong phase in their normal evolution, when their re-activated processes are inappropriate. Since cancer has primarily been investigated from a scientific perspective and as science (especially physics) operates mainly through the Materialist Hypothesis (“Nature only consists of Matter”), this framework will be presented from a purely materialist perspective (which is difficult enough, without adding any further factors). Recognizing that social under-standing requires natural languages, the emphasis here is on the organized presentation of concepts and their key relationships, especially when viewed from a systems perspective. Although Systems Theory is often presented as a mathematical scheme, this is not the approach used here. This book provides a unique view on the modern scourge of cancer by organizing the vast amounts of genetic discoveries on this disease using a Systems Theory approach, rather than the more usual historical viewpoint.
