TKS Session 8: Cancer Detection
I always love the TKS cancer detection because they always expose us to a different way of going about how we can use cancer detection to actually cure and prevent cancer, beyond traditional treatment methods. But, before we dove into the topic of cancer detection, we first started with our PotW, which was Absurdism.
I had never heard of Absurdism until this session, but what’s interesting about it is that it’s a mix of a philosophy and a mindset. We were introduced to Absurdism by comparing it to two other philosophies, Nihilism and Stoicism.
We first looked at Nihilism, which is, in simple terms, the belief that life has no purpose. We can’t control anything, and there is no point in trying to do so.
The evolution of Nihilism is Stoicism, which is the idea that we should only focus on what’s within our control, and not worry about what’s outside of that bubble. That means, just try your hardest in whatever you do, but once you’ve done it, there’s no point in dwelling on it.
Then we moved on to our focus, which is Absurdism. Absurdism is not worrying about what you can and can’t control. Think of it like embracing your life and creating your own purpose, and rebelling against the norm. In a sense, you are detaching yourself from what society is telling you to do and making your own decisions about it.
Personally, I really like the Stoicism philosophy, which tries to focus on only what you can control, and understanding that what you can’t change what you can’t control. The idea of focusing on Absurdism is to show us that there are people who will do whatever they can to go against the grain and create their own purpose, which is good at times, but can also lead to a sense of “overoptimism” and denial if you’re constantly trying to go against everything that life is throwing at you and not acknowledging that chaos and not having the answers might be a part of life.
We then went into the focus of today’s session, which was cancer detection. We started by spending a lot of time identifying the stakeholders in cancer detection. To do this, we first had a group discussion on who some of the stakeholders might be, and then discussed what their motivations would be. What was interesting to point out was how different stakeholders can be connected, and either share similar or contrasting values. We then broke out into different groups to create our own stakeholder maps revolving around cancer detection. This is what our group’s map looked like at the end:
What we did for our map was list out all the different stakeholders, then connected those stakeholders to their values or incentives, and then created more connections between the stakeholders, labelled either as aligned (green connection) or conflicting (red connection).
After creating an in-depth stakeholder map, we had a better understanding of the different factors that would influence the advancement of cancer detection. While there are some stakeholders that would want to see the advancement in cancer detection, other stakeholders might not (not specifically because they don’t want people to be cured quicker, but because better cancer detection means their own companies or current treatment methods wouldn’t be needed). Something I’ve come to realize through this session is that curing cancer is a business in itself. When better treatments or methods are developed, big companies tend to suffer and lose profit.
We discussed again in our breakout rooms different solutions or ideas to progress the advancement of cancer detection without having big pushback from contradicting stakeholders. Something we identified was that you would need to find a way to get the public incentivized to invest in cancer detection research. If the market grew, then that would mean more room for big players that develop cancer treatments to shift towards developing cancer detection tools, giving them an alternative to make a profit and simultaneously helping advance cancer detection. Although it’s much easier to brainstorm about than it is to put into action.
The last thing we looked into for the session was about health and your own responsibility for it. We had a group discussion revolving around the question: Who should be responsible for your health?
While the question sounds simple, once you start to factor in different things like accessibility, resources, and knowledgability, we came to realize that it really is a hybrid responsibility, both from the person and the support system around them. If the person had all the support and knowledge about how to take care of themselves, then the responsibility could fall on them if their health was poor and was within their control. But, there are others who can’t afford to eat healthy, or are restricted to the kind of lifestyle they can live, and then that falls on the responsibility of the support they have access to.
And that was the end of this session. We did go over some more housekeeping items, like how Accelerate (the Velocity of Activate) was starting soon, and applications would open. I’m really excited for Accelerate because it’s a program that is literally about making as much progress as you can in your focus/personal project in the shortest amount of time. To get into Accerelate, you need to have finished your learn article (or something equivalent if you’re doing a personal project) and then complete one of these challenges:
Fitness: 10 K run
Fitness: 400 challenge (100 pushups, 100 burpees, 100 jumping jacks, 100 yard dash)
Focus-related: complete your replicate/apply (or something equivalent if doing a personal project)
For me to get into Accelerate, I chose to do the 400 challenge, and instead of a learn article, I created a one-pager for ClotGuard sponsorships and also collected a list of potential companies to reach out to.
I left the session feeling motivated for Accelerate and couldn’t wait for that part of the program to begin!
