Compound-Path Null: the mortality cluster is self-generating artifact born from psychological + demographic profiles of the researchers themselves. Researchers self-select into this population from personality-cluster profiles that independently correlate with elevated mortality.
The discipline: under the Compound-Path Null, Eskridge's self-inflicted gunshot, Schneider's ligature, Mack's traffic accident are tragic but statistically inevitable outcomes of chronic pain, paranoia, and random chance operating across a large enough timeline. Do not default to conspiracy because conspiracy is the more entertaining answer.
But the null does not survive the Topic-Correlation Signature. If mortality were produced by self-selection alone, distribution across topics would be flat. It is not. Narrative researchers live. Hardware researchers die. The differential IS the evidence against Compound Null.