3 ms·

> But as earlier post pointed out, we don't really know why they do these things, why should they be so beneficial to us? Why does St. John’s Wort, passionflow

> But as earlier post pointed out, we don't really know why they do these things, why should they be so beneficial to us? Why does St. John’s Wort, passionflower etc have antidepressant effects? Why does penicillin mold produce an antibiotic? Why does gingerols act as anti-emetics? Why do coca leaves, coffee beans give a buzz? There is nothing magical with an active compound to have a specific dose-response curve either.

pessimizer 5y ago
> Why does St. John’s Wort, passionflower etc have antidepressant effects? Why does penicillin mold produce an antibiotic? Why does gingerols act as anti-emetics? Why do coca leaves, coffee beans give a buzz? I don't know what listing a bunch of similar mysteries does to make the question less mysterious. Are you implying that these questions can't have answers and everything is unknowable? Is this one of the arguments where someone says that we can't answer your question until we answer every other question first? I don't get it.
- acituan 5y ago
  The context of the thread is that somehow there is something romantically magical about mushrooms especially for humans. Me (and bunch of other people in the thread) throwing bunch of other compounds at it is to disprove that there is anything necessarily magical or secretly meaningful about them. It is mostly incidental or phenomena not specific to humans, therefore there is not much mysteriousness about it.
  - galaxyLogic 5y ago
    Not magical not romantic but yes mysterious. Or at least interesting. The question is why do psychedelic drugs hit our brains in the peculiar way they do, which also has a therapeutic effect. First why do they cause the experience that they do, and secondly why is that experience therapeutic? I think these are interesting questions without clear answers as of yet. It has been speculated that mushrooms caused religion. Religion is spread all over the world so there must be something "fit" about it. It is as if mushrooms and human societies are in some kind of symbiotic relationship.

pessimizer 5y ago

> Why does St. John’s Wort, passionflower etc have antidepressant effects? Why does penicillin mold produce an antibiotic? Why does gingerols act as anti-emetics? Why do coca leaves, coffee beans give a buzz? I don't know what listing a bunch of similar mysteries does to make the question less mysterious. Are you implying that these questions can't have answers and everything is unknowable? Is this one of the arguments where someone says that we can't answer your question until we answer every other question first? I don't get it.

acituan 5y ago
The context of the thread is that somehow there is something romantically magical about mushrooms especially for humans. Me (and bunch of other people in the thread) throwing bunch of other compounds at it is to disprove that there is anything necessarily magical or secretly meaningful about them. It is mostly incidental or phenomena not specific to humans, therefore there is not much mysteriousness about it.
- galaxyLogic 5y ago
  Not magical not romantic but yes mysterious. Or at least interesting. The question is why do psychedelic drugs hit our brains in the peculiar way they do, which also has a therapeutic effect. First why do they cause the experience that they do, and secondly why is that experience therapeutic? I think these are interesting questions without clear answers as of yet. It has been speculated that mushrooms caused religion. Religion is spread all over the world so there must be something "fit" about it. It is as if mushrooms and human societies are in some kind of symbiotic relationship.