Wow, I know a lot of people that died and they were quite the walking enthusiasts. Some of them must have only walked 3966 steps a day. They were just one step away from immortality, perhaps?
At least there are some people who see their jobs as useless when they probably are. Enter any American university with more administrators than necessary and you won’t find a single useless administrator admitting to you that they are useless to society and the university.
Yes, this is classic anthropological theorizing, in fact. Claude Levi-Strauss touched upon these issues, and they continue to be interesting questions to think about. He didn’t frame it in the medical field, but it’s the same question that plagues sociological and anthropological research. Your elaboration actually highlights something very important: the straight-up medical field could learn from medical anthropology and seems to pay little attention to it. The two fields have so much to talk about together and collaborate. It happens sometimes, but not often enough.
I think you’ve hit upon what medical anthropology needs to sort out as a discipline. To be specific: What constitutes a moral position versus a phenomenological observation about a cultural phenomenon that assigns meaning to biology and anatomy? It is quite an interesting problem you have highlighted. This does not, in my opinion, question medical anthropology as a valid scientific field of study. It’s something to think about, research, and talk about to improve the field, which is a fascinating field, indeed, and totally worthwhile.
Yes, this new type of statistical reality in this parallel universe I’ve stumbled into, where people don’t die if they walk, is fascinating, isn’t it? If I see a casino, I’m definitely going all in on the roulette wheel.