I usually think of wannabe Mars-colonists as the unrealistic ones, but I can’t help but think of the umbrella notion of curing cancer as the more fantasty-drive

I usually think of wannabe Mars-colonists as the unrealistic ones, but I can’t help but think of the umbrella notion of curing cancer as the more fantasty-driven idea. Is cancer not just the accumulation of cellular damage? Sometimes it happens earlier than we’d like or is induced by external factors a la radiation, but ultimately cell replication wears at telomeres and degrades molecular regulation of cell growth. Sure, some specific cases are treatable, but if you live long enough, you’ll get cancer in one way or another - the upper bound. Does “curing cancer” not entail solving all problems associated with aging as well? It sounds so good on the surface, but do we actually have a better idea what we’re talking when we say “curing cancer” than “solving artificial general intelligence”?