What? That completely disproves his point that "exposing yourself to nature is probably a good thing." You can't cherry-pick which types of nature you should expose yourself to -- you have to supply some other criteria.
Your analogy doesn't work because the author was not advocating experiencing death, just experiencing short-term discomfort that is supposedly better in the long run because humans could/should experience it. To use your words the author was indeed advocating "cherry-picking." Compare dying of smallpox to freezing to death in the Arctic Ocean. Compare taking cold showers to building up disease resistance by living in non-sterile environments.
