The Method of Excess Deaths

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The technique was invented, actually, by a demographer called the founder of epidemiology, called william farr, in england in the nineteenth century. The state of knowledge about nosology, about diseases and what causes illnesses and deaths was so weak 200 years ago that it was not often possible to know what someone died of. During times of plague, some people are killed directly the germ infecting them. Others are killed indirectly, for example, like you said, in the situation in which a person with cancer dies because they weren't unable to get hospital care. For example, millions of indians and chinese die every year because of bad air quality. And when all the factories

Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the lessons of the COVID pandemic. They discuss our failures to coordinate an effective response, the politics surrounding vaccination, vaccine efficacy, vaccine safety, how to think about scientific controversies, the epidemiology of excess deaths, transmission among the vaccinated, natural immunity, selection pressures and new variants, the failure of institutions, the lab-leak hypothesis, the efficacy of lockdowns, vaccine mandates, boosters, what would happen in a worse pandemic, and other topics.

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Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.