Physicists Compare Embryo Development and Cancer. What Connects Google with Enron?

Good and Bad Outcomes: Common in Evolution of Multicellular Organisms and Stock Markets
George ILIEV

Here is a daring double-barrelled hypothesis - among the most daring I have produced:
1. The evolution of multicellular organisms possibly leads to both good and bad outcomes: embryos and cancer, respectively.
2. Stock markets similarly sustain good and bad outcomes: Google and Enron.

A newly founded institution in Arizona called Center for the Convergence of Physical Science and Cancer Biology straddles the border between physics and astrophysics on the one side, and cancer research on the other. Two theoretical physicists and cosmologists are exploring a (yet unproven) hypothesis linking the origin of cancer to the evolution of multicellular organisms and the development of embryos. They assert that "genes that are active in the embryo and normally dormant thereafter are found to be switched back on in cancer. These same genes are the 'ancient' ones, deep in the tree of multicellular life." The researchers expect to find that "the more malignant stages of cancer will re-express genes from the earliest stages of embryogenesis".

A similar parallel is even more evident in the impact that stock market listings have on companies. For many, including leading "goodies" such as Google and Apple, a public listing has the beneficial effect of providing resources for growth and credibility for transacting in the business world. For others, such as Enron and WorldCom, the stock market created perverse incentives for top managers to cheat and lie.

To put it simply, one man's meat is another man's, ...eh, defeat.

(Photo: Enron's logo, Wikipedia)