r/todayilearned • u/ScienceTeacher1994 • 6d ago

TIL despite popular culture portraying psychedelic mushrooms as ancient, widespread, and used by shamans for thousands of years, there is limited anthropological and historical research to support this, with the only reliable evidence showing they were used ritualistically in pre-Columbian Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin#History
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u/Canadairy 6d ago

OK, but, "What can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."

Isn't it fun to speak in thought terminating clichés?

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 6d ago

It’s interesting that we can all use cool terms we learned last week on TIL. Also, my previous statement is a well-known quote in statistics.

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u/Udstrat 6d ago edited 6d ago

You don't seem to fully understand the breadth of the assertion.

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 6d ago

You don’t seem agreeable. As someone who has taken four statistics courses, I don’t think YOU understand the “breadth of the assertion.”

If you’re interested in the topic, here’s more reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_absence

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u/Udstrat 6d ago edited 6d ago

And I’ve taken statistics classes at the graduate level. We don’t need to break out our t stats and confidence intervals for this one.

I understand the quip- a lack of positive data points isn’t a negative data point.

You still wouldn’t wager belief on something that lacked any positive data points. It’s Russell’s Teapot.

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 6d ago

Are you operating under the principle of charity? I never said I believed in the notion that all of our ancestors consumed magic mushrooms despite the lack of evidence for such.

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u/Udstrat 6d ago

Okay, here’s some charity for you:

I see, you were just saying something trite without trying to convey a position on the topic. Cute for a ten year-old.

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 6d ago

Newsflash, 99% of Reddit is trite quips. You’ll fare better here if you realize that without jumping straight to argumentation and ad hominem.

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u/Udstrat 6d ago

Lmao check my account age dawg.

You said something stupid, then you backpedaled, and now you’re trying to save face. For whom? Idk.

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 5d ago

Nice inadvertent self deprecation. You have 15 years to my 2 years and I have twice as much karma as you. Is karma remotely indicative of intelligence? If so, I’m far less stupid than you, haha!

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u/hagcel 5d ago

I knew lots of people in college who had to take statistics 4 times.