• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 02:36
CET 08:36
KST 16:36
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners10Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!42$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship7[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win10
StarCraft 2
General
RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" Mech is the composition that needs teleportation t StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon! TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win
Tourneys
Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
Where's CardinalAllin/Jukado the mapmaker? BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET [ASL20] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Current Meta PvZ map balance How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Learning my new SC2 hotkey…
Hildegard
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1076 users

Scientific American on Similarities Between Zerg and Cance…

Forum Index > Closed
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
DeepElemBlues
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States5079 Posts
July 09 2013 20:11 GMT
#21
Thread title is awesome, article is awesome.

Really captures how in both gameplay and in the philosophy of the Zerg (or whatever mumbo-jumbo Kerrigan is always telling us in cutscenes or the Overmind told us 100000x more awesomely in vanilla SC) are like... the cansker.

I always thought of them as like a radiation leak spewing over everything but that causes cancer too. So, still cancer.
no place i'd rather be than the satellite of love
Kenny_oro
Profile Joined September 2011
Germany368 Posts
July 09 2013 20:12 GMT
#22
This title is actually soooo good! :D Got me here to read what's up - The other suggested one ... nope whouldnt click that.
HerO | TaeJa | Sea | Polt | CranK Fighting!
tili
Profile Joined July 2012
United States1332 Posts
July 09 2013 20:13 GMT
#23
That is, assuming cancer's macro doesn't slip....
Rinny
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States616 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-09 20:17:42
July 09 2013 20:14 GMT
#24
The author tries to make the case that players using zerg to play matches are learning about cancer, but goes on to support that not by discussing high level multiplayer starcraft, but by taking about single player lore. It seems like the author came up with the idea "Video games are good for you, starcraft fights cancer because you kill zerg, which are like cancer!" then couldn't really come up with anything to support it.

Similarly, a solitary Zerg drone can become a whole hive if left unchecked. The best StarCraft players fight the Zerg like surgeons: If you see a tumor, you have to get it all to survive.


Stupid stuff like this, all the races are capable of rebuilding from a single worker, and i dont know whats surgical about 200 supply of protoss a-moving into a zerg. Very flawed thesis from the author.
Where my swarm at? Ye Yeee
namste
Profile Joined October 2010
Finland2292 Posts
July 09 2013 20:15 GMT
#25
Haha, thought to myself "Oh great one of these shitty threads". Pretty cool stuff that article
IM hwaitiing ~ IMMvp #1 | Bang Min Ah <3<3
Thieving Magpie
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States6752 Posts
July 09 2013 20:15 GMT
#26
On July 10 2013 04:55 BrevitySC2 wrote:
Scientific American posted an article on the similarities between the zerg race and cancer. I thought it was cool to see Starcraft used as an analogy to educate people on cancer. The full article is linked below.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/overthinking-it/2013/07/08/what-starcraft-can-teach-gamers-about-fighting-cancer/


L2Play stupid noo-

Oh, nevermind, was going on autopilot there.

Fun read.
Hark, what baseball through yonder window breaks?
LighT.
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada4501 Posts
July 09 2013 20:17 GMT
#27
So zerg is cancer..
Protoss must be Scorpio (kudos if you get the reference)
Wonder what terran is..
FinestHour
Profile Joined August 2010
United States18466 Posts
July 09 2013 20:17 GMT
#28
rofl i thought that was hilarious
thug life.                                                       MVP/ex-
MrBrunk
Profile Joined September 2011
Canada428 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-09 20:27:08
July 09 2013 20:19 GMT
#29
You sir, know how to get peoples attention :p

Interesting read.
Marcinko
Profile Joined May 2013
South Africa1014 Posts
July 09 2013 20:19 GMT
#30
I was getting my internet boxing gloves on and bam, not what I thought it would be.

Nice read, thanks for the link.
....
FallDownMarigold
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States3710 Posts
July 09 2013 20:19 GMT
#31
On July 10 2013 05:09 Plansix wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 10 2013 05:07 Mauzel wrote:
Like cancer, Zerg is the most vulnerable early in the game

Are you saying that proxy 2 rax is good for your health? Or cannon rushing?


You could go with the 2rax, but that is such an aggressive procedure it may actually result in higher morbidity and mortality. The 2rax treatment is a gamble. Sometimes it works by nipping the cancer in the butt, but other times it simply causes too much damage to the other tissue, which taxes the body and results in death
Night Eyes
Profile Joined January 2011
433 Posts
July 09 2013 20:21 GMT
#32
This will stay on TL forever and be the place to whine on Zerg for all ages to come and get away with it on the base of saying it was a health discussion.
excellent!
Atlasy
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Hungary229 Posts
July 09 2013 20:22 GMT
#33
On July 10 2013 05:02 Shellshock1122 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 10 2013 05:01 Fusilero wrote:
On July 10 2013 05:00 _SpiRaL_ wrote:
Terran is the cure for cancer?

What it's saying is that hellbats kill zerg, therefore to cure cancer we must set it on fire.

Do the protoss from the original campaign represent chemotherapy when they destroy planets?


Well they do kill the overmind by crushing a carrier into it. It's a pity that there is no chance for actual use since the carrier is horrible in sc2 ((
Clazziquai10
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Singapore1949 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-09 20:25:16
July 09 2013 20:23 GMT
#34
That's why cancer needs some AOE damage like radiotherapy, but your cells get splash-damaged as well
Marcinko
Profile Joined May 2013
South Africa1014 Posts
July 09 2013 20:24 GMT
#35
On July 10 2013 05:17 LighT. wrote:
So zerg is cancer..
Protoss must be Scorpio (kudos if you get the reference)
Wonder what terran is..


Probably virgo?
....
i zig zag around you
Profile Joined July 2013
70 Posts
July 09 2013 20:25 GMT
#36
the title is fine, ppl just need to stop complain about everything for the sake of complaining about something. great find!
Yorbon
Profile Joined December 2011
Netherlands4272 Posts
July 09 2013 20:26 GMT
#37
Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the overmind, the eternal will of the swarm, and that you have been created to serve me.

Hm, cancer would indeed be scary.
Kleinmuuhg
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Vanuatu4091 Posts
July 09 2013 20:26 GMT
#38
Perfect title, please dont change it.
This is our town, scrub
mechengineer123
Profile Joined March 2013
Ukraine711 Posts
July 09 2013 20:27 GMT
#39
title 10/10
Extenz
Profile Joined October 2011
Italy822 Posts
July 09 2013 20:32 GMT
#40
I like the part where he said you have to keep pressure to win because if you let a zerg macro you lose (yea didn't like the nuclear example but you get the point...)
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 24m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Zeus 541
actioN 312
Sharp 25
NotJumperer 18
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm118
Gorgc74
League of Legends
JimRising 1163
Counter-Strike
fl0m1168
Stewie2K784
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor130
Other Games
summit1g13504
WinterStarcraft407
ViBE135
goatrope52
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL100
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH105
• Adnapsc2 6
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo2935
• Jankos2655
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2h 24m
WardiTV Korean Royale
4h 24m
LAN Event
7h 24m
ByuN vs Zoun
TBD vs TriGGeR
Clem vs TBD
IPSL
10h 24m
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
BSL 21
12h 24m
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
Replay Cast
1d 1h
Wardi Open
1d 4h
WardiTV Korean Royale
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
3 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
[ Show More ]
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
herO vs Gerald
ByuN vs SHIN
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
BSL 21
6 days
Tarson vs Julia
Doodle vs OldBoy
eOnzErG vs WolFix
StRyKeR vs Aeternum
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.