Contact Inhibition

"...ogy shows this is spectacularly wrong. Cancer cells grow fast. They optimize purely for growth. They ignore normal growth controls - mechanisms like contact inhibition that tell healthy cells to stop growing when they're crowding their neighbors. They metastasize, spreading growth everywhere instead of specific site..."

"...s. Cells divide in response to growth factors - signaling molecules that essentially say "it's time to divide." But healthy cells also respond to contact inhibition. When a cell is surrounded by other cells, when it's crowded, it stops dividing even if growth factors are present."

"Growth becomes its own justification. Rule 3: When to stop. This is the critical one. Healthy cells have contact inhibition - they sense neighboring cells, detect crowding, and halt division. They know when they've filled their allotted space."

"...t. If your organization has no variation - one product, one strategy, one approach - you're betting everything on a single fitness peak. Chapter 3's contact inhibition warned against uncontrolled growth. But zero variation is equally dangerous: you're a clipper ship the year before the Suez Canal opens. Create vari..."

"Efficiency and adaptation determine survival. - Growth → Controlled expansion: Growth plates limit size. Contact inhibition prevents cancer. Meristems enable renewal. - Sensing → Feedback loops: Receptors detect signals. Transduction amplifies them."