[extropy-chat] Failure of low-fat diet

[Russell Wallace]

On 2/23/06, Robin Hanson <rhanson at gmu.edu> wrote:
>
> I agree with your general concept, but your specific example actually
> turns out to be a bit off.   As a matter of fact, medicine is one of
> those topics on which people are pretty far from
> rational.   Apparently, the social functions of medical beliefs
> dominated the material functions among our ancestors.   See:
> http://hanson.gmu.edu/feardie.pdf
>

Good article! Much of it sounds right, particularly the parts about underuse
of hard data and the uselessness of marginal increases in medical care.

The blanket conclusion about the uselessness of all medical care, including
things like closed sewers, pest eradication, disinfectants, vaccines and
antibiotics... I'm afraid my reaction to that is the same as it would be if
the article claimed that the improvement in lifespan was due to psychic
waves from Zeta Reticuli: extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
Pestilence is one of the Four Horsemen for good reason: infectious disease
used to be the main cause of death. We stopped it, with the above methods.
Lifespan shot up as a result. There's no mystery there.

- Russell
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