3 ms·

Most "miracle plant" claims are pseudoscientific woo. In this case it's even worse - it's claims of stories of claims that are hundreds of years old.

• tjs8rj 4y ago
  Pseudoscience of this nature is derived specifically from selfish incentives. Nowadays, you can get pretty rich by convincing others something is a “miracle plant” (“super food”, etc), and so that’s why it’s become a cliche. Did those same or similar incentives exist back then? It doesn’t seem like anyone got rich or powerful from claiming silphion is a miracle plant, and with how widespread the agreeing claims are it’s at least worth investigating.
  • simonh 4y ago
    Oh come on, medical botany and snake oil selling has been huge business for pretty much all of recorded history.
  • londons_explore 4y ago
    > It doesn’t seem like anyone got rich or powerful A plant that isn't super common... Sure - there will have been people with fields of the stuff selling it at high prices to city dwellers who can't get hold of it any other way. It's worth even more if it's hard or slow to cultivate so competing people can't take a few of your seeds and plant them in their own fields and steal your market.