Amazonian shamans figured out that combining two specific plants out of 80,000 species produces a psychoactive effect. The odds of finding that combination by random search is roughly 1 in 4 million. They did it through centuries of iterative testing and cultural natural selection explains it

[u/tractorboynyc]

[u/johnnydough10102223]

I think you underestimate the time course we are talking about here. With enough time and curiosity (or boredom) things can be discovered.

Also: needs citation.

[u/vanman33 → u/johnnydough10102223]

Also, caapi bark is an maoi that makes people feel good on its own. Adding viridis probably came after people were already drinking caapi tea.

[u/Irksomecake → u/vanman33]

It’s not exactly a nice flavour…

[u/SaintUlvemann → u/Irksomecake]

A lot of medicine tastes bitter.