M
Matt
Guest
...psychoactive? Trial / error? Ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis, salicylic acid, to name a few, were all naturally occuring and readily consumed by humans thousands of years ago. How did ancient civilizations discover these things? What are the current hypothesis about this? For salicylic acid for example, it was found by grinding up the bark of a willow tree and ingesting it. Ayahuasca comes from combining two different plants to become psychoactive, and both components on their own don't do anything. It's hard to believe this was trial and error... what are the best theories out there about how this stuff was discovered? If you are unfamiliar with these substances, please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicylic_acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicylic_acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca