May 20 Notes

Changing the Paradigm

• Current shortcomings of biological science as a whole

• • What are the most persuasive types of argument in biology?
    • 1) controlled experiments
    • 2) randomized controlled trials
      • associative
      • data mining
    • 3) theory (limited)
      • descriptive model
      • predictive model
      • mathematical analysis
      • computation
    • 4) simulation (emergence?)
    • 5) case studies
    • 6) expert opinion

• • Meta-issues
    • Language
      • lack of good and shared LEXICON slows understanding and progress:
        • what is a "gene"?
        • "genome" vs "chromosome"
        • is it "noise", "randomness", "heterogeneity", "diversity"?
      • METAPHORS affect what actions are taken and what systems are developed
        • "war on cancer" leads to "military industrial complex" for cancer
      • POLITICAL CORRECTNESS stiffles progress
        • the "e" word
      • PARADIGMS proscribe and limit what futures are possible
        • treatment of disease vs. promotion of health
          • taking evolution seriously means looking at the context that evolved for protection and promotion of cancer
    • Technology effects
      • hammers & nails
      • diff between engineered systems and evolved systems
        • parodies belie truth: "how biologists learn to fix a radio"; "frog legs"
      • scientists are especially susceptible
      • speed of technological change
    • Financial & political factors
      • Fadism (technological, ideological, novelty)
      • Pipeline effects
      • Healthcare-industrial-governmental complex
        • Difficulty in matching funding to specific people, groups, ideas

• Spreading the word
  • creating big conference (like Understanding Aging and Singularity Summit)
  • creating visual and video "body of literature"
  • popular magazines (Wired, New Yorker, Harpers)
  • newspapers
  • conceptual pieces in traditional journals
  • internet / web
    • cancer complexity wiki merge with SFI wiki?
    • individual blogging
    • create new online journal
  • "big ideas" conferences ([TED], PopTech, and others)
  • popular book (ala Tipping Point, Freakonomics, et al)
  • public speaking tour
  • documentary (ala Inconveniet Truth)
  • undergraduate education
    • Nowak's program
    • textbook specifically for undergrad
    • courses surrounding textbook

• Ideas for catalyzing change
  • alternative research institute
    • piggyback on SFI, Wistar or other existing
    • raise funds privately to start new one
  • Help NCI clear the hurdles
    • [NCI Translational Continuum] ([Pathways to clinical goals)]
    • key is to get success stories
  • work with each other (and other friendlies) to yield success in somatic evolution validation
    • common lexicon
  • stake claim on wikipedia
  • maverick funders and self-funders
    • Google, Hughes Institute, many others
  • partner/collaborate with personal genomics companies
    • 23andMe, and others
  • creating financial incentives
    • prize models
  • peer review --> decision markets

• Lessons from other paradigm shifts
  • what are closest examples?
  • how the existing paradigm reacts to attack
  • working within the system vs. outside and on the margins
  • providing a better alternative (or hope thereof) is important

• Who's missing from this forum?