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Aurornis • today at 6:04 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

The similarity is precisely what would make it an interesting comparator.

I don't have time to research this fully, but the first few papers that popped up showed that a lot of the casualty events from music festivals are due to incidents like mass stampedes or even motor vehicles, which I suspect would be much lower at Burning Man. On the other hand, deaths from drug overdose or "structural collapse" are probably higher at Burning Man.

Comparing like-for-like, or as close as you can get, is what enables these interesting comparisons. Pointing out that you're less likely to die of cancer or car crashes while attending burning is not helpful when you compare against population level statistics.


Replies

swerner • today at 6:18 PM

The kinds of drugs people at burning man prefer to take are not very likely to lead to death from overdose.