Death by Belief

[dogjones]

I found this article fascinating, about a very superstitious group of people who had a tendency to die mysteriously in the night of no obvious cause.

Some interesting ideas, and I think I'd like to get the book:

Adler, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, comes to a stunning conclusion: In a sense, the Hmong were killed by their beliefs in the spirit world, even if the mechanism of their deaths was likely an obscure genetic cardiac arrhythmia that is prevalent in southeast Asia.

snip

Results like these seem improbable, or anti-reason, or something. But Adler's book is an attack on the "Oh, come on!" form of argument. She uses her understanding of both science and traditional belief structures to argue for what she calls "local biology."

"Since meaning has biological consequences, and meanings vary across cultures, biology can operate differently in different contexts," she writes. "In other words, biology is 'local' -- the 'same' biological processes in different places have different 'effects' on people."

 

[Swagomatic]

Doesn't is say right there that the likely cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia?