Well, IIRC there were stages to trying new things, kinda like:
Test 1: rub plant on forearm, see if it has a reaction. Test 2: eat small piece of plant/thing to see reaction Test 3: eat progressively larger pieces and rinse and repeat
This is probably only in survival situations
knowing how cruel humans can be, need to add:
I feel like dogs and kids are best described as ultra voluntary test subjects, they will try their damndest to eat the thing and you can certainly try your best to stop it.
They’d also dilute them in water and drink progressively less dilute solutions. Also, as other people mentioned, notice what other bugs and animals are eating.
It's also more realistic to think that humans gained this knowledge from their ancestors. It's more likely humans learned these things from other humanoid species
i grow mushrooms outside and do some foraging.
if a mushroom is covered in bugs it's probably edible. centipedes, fungus gnats, and slugs are all common on my outdoor beds.
there are a few edible fungi i don't see bugs eat, like meatier varieties such as shiitake and saddle backs, but i have never seen bugs go after poisonous fungi
some bugs will eat psychedelic fungi just like some animals will. but there tends to be less predation with them.
I read somewhere this is how humans most likely learned what is good and bad to eat. Just need to see something else eating it and it's most likely good.
I'm also a forager and I think this is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing to say.
Please never rely on that advice if you ever go mushroom foraging. There is no short cut here.
i said probably and my point was made in the context of the meme. it wasn't advice on safe foraging but an observation on how early humans may have made intelligent guesses before we had reliable guide books and the internet.
your shiitake is not being eaten cuz it's very far from native species in your area. I'm sure where it originally grows bugs feast on them non stop
that's my thought too.
but saddle back are native here and edible and i rarely see predation
i have a friend that ate a lot of the stuff. i know it can be toxic at high doses but i would call it psychoactive more than poisonous.
also see my comment regarding some bugs like psychedelics (I've heard of slugs and racoons going after outdoor psilocybin beds)
Sometimes I think about things like this when it comes to cheese and fermented stuff. Like, who was the first guy to work out that you can get rotten food and either get high off it or get tasty stuff out of them?
At some point if you're starving enough it's eat this and maybe die or don't eat this and definitely die
Think about how much shit you have to do to make cheese. Or bread.
How did people figure that shit out? At some point I have to think that people were just mixing everything together and seeing what happened. Sometimes they made tasty food. Sometimes they made something useful. Sometimes they made poisonous gas. 🤷🏻♂️
Can you imagine how hungry you would have to get to try to eat (or drink?) some fermenting porridge? Hmm what about this glob I slopped on the rock in the fire?
Hear me out, what if the Bible prophecies and the whole concept happened because they tried something new and were just trippin out?
Crazy enough, the Bible wasnt written all at once. The Bible was written over a span of approximately 1,300 years (depending on your historical, linguistic, and theological beliefs of course).
So probably a bit of the old testament could have been written while under the influence of mushrooms as that's when we were experimenting with wild mushrooms.
But what do I know, the picture says I died from mushrooms.
Literally ever time I'm tripping I always think the whole religion thing is just so people have some inspiration to drawn from if it starts going bad.. like call in an angel or some shit to save your ass
⠀ ⠀⠀⢀⡤⢶⣶⣶⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⢀⣠⣤⣤⣤⣿⣧⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣤⡄⠀ ⢠⣾⡟⠋⠁⠀⠀⣸⠇⠈⣿⣿⡟⠉⠉⠉⠙⠻⣿⡀ ⢺⣿⡀⠀⠀⢀⡴⠋⠀⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠇ ⠈⠛⠿⠶⠚⠋⣀⣤⣤⣤⣿⣿⣇⣀⣀⣴⡆⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⡞⠋⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⡏⠉⠛⠻⣿⡀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠈⠁⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⣠⣶⣶⣶⣶⡄⠀⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⢰⣿⠟⠉⠙⢿⡟⠀⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⢸⡟⠀⠀⠀⠘⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠈⢿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠙⠷⠶⠶⠶⠿⠟⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The supposed logic here is that the human genes that liked the taste of some toxic plants died out.
It can help in a survival pinch to weed out your options but I wouldn’t rely on it as a guaranteed truth.
The psylocibin containing ones also only make you "see god" for about 6-8h, too. Not a very scientific meme, but funny.
Actually there's interesting theory how eating magic mushrooms speeded or even shaped development of consciousness in our ancestors.