Monthly Archives: January 2018

Back in the early 1800s, some nut [ Samuel Hahnemann ] conceived the idea that all effective medicines, in large doses, produce symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the diseases they cure. He advocated treatment using extremely diluted … Continue reading →

Looking back on it, human health would have materially improved if every physician and surgeon in 1800 had walked behind a horse and vanished. The next question is how that would have influenced health in later years, say in 1900. … Continue reading →

The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden – the number of years lost. I’m wondering just much harm premodern medicine did, per doctor. How many healthy years of life did a typical doctor destroy (net) … Continue reading →

Luzia woman is an 11,500-year-old funny-looking skeleton found in a cave in Brazil. According to Wiki, “Her facial features include a narrow, oval cranium, projecting face and pronounced chin, strikingly dissimilar to most Native Americans and their indigenous Siberian forebears. … Continue reading →

Every society selects for something: generally it looks as if the direction of selection pressure is more or less an accident. Although nations and empires in the past could have decided to select men for bravery or intelligence, there’s not … Continue reading →

IN a recent conversation, Steven Pinker suggests that some students become radicalized when they find that there truths that are unsayable on campus. He gave some examples. !. Capitalism is just plain better than communism 2. Men and women do … Continue reading →

At least.

When the Amerindians got past the glaciers, it was as if they had died and gone to heaven. They’d lived in Beringia for thousands of years, so obviously it was possible to make a living there, but it was a … Continue reading →