my favorite painting of hell <3

From Scott Alexander's review of Joe Henrich's The Secret of our Success:

In the Americas, where manioc was first domesticated, societies who have relied on bitter varieties for thousands of years show no evidence of chronic cyanide poisoning. In the Colombian Amazon, for example, indigenous Tukanoans use a multistep, multi-day processing technique that involves scraping, grating, and finally washing the roots in order to separate the fiber, starch, and liquid. Once separated, the liquid is boiled into a beverage, but the fiber and starch must then sit for two more days, when they can then be baked and eaten.

Such processing techniques are crucial for living in many parts of Amazonia, where other crops are difficult to cultivate and often unproductive. However, despite their utility, one person would have a difficult time figuring out the detoxification technique. Consider the situation from the point [...]

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Outline:

(00:09) 1.

(03:56) 2.

(16:08) 3.

(18:42) 4.

(18:59) So what exactly is an epistemic hell?

(19:52) What current scientific unknowns may be devilishly difficult in ways we don’t comprehend?

(22:24) Are there are general strategies or methods that we can use to at least increase the odds of extricating ourselves from epistemic netherworlds?

(25:04) If you are going through hell, keep going.

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First published:
January 27th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LFksi965YhoRtpyws/epistemic-hell

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Epistemic Hell” by rogersbacon

LessWrong (30+ Karma)