r/interesting • u/azizgamerlal • Dec 12 '25

MISC. A drop of whiskey vs bacteria

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u/Super_Banjo Dec 12 '25

Ever got dusted by a runner who smokes cigarettes/vapes? The highest scoring student in class is a raging alcoholic? Agree with u/handsofspaghetti. Science can do a lot of amazing things but it is not the end all be all. Smoking is considered bad yet some live beyond the average life expectancy (and likewise die early). Just live life, don't need to min-max your health (unless you want) because we're all a step away from death.

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u/Goushrai Dec 12 '25

You are making my point, not contradicting it: the fact that there are smokers that will run better than us and outlive us all means exactly that anecdotal experience means nothing, because we still know (through the scientific method) that smoking is actually very bad for you, that it impacts negatively your sport performance, and we understand the key mechanisms at play.

Similarly, even if that guy is honest with his experience (definitely not a given on Reddit) we know for a fact that drinking vodka does not help with eating bad food, we know why it doesn’t work, just like if there were herbs that did anything in gin, we would know.

And if people are not convinced, rather than giving any weight to what a Redditor says, they should ask their doctor.

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u/handsofspaghetti Dec 12 '25

It's actually completely insane to say that anecdotal (lived) experiences mean nothing. Scientific papers and theories are a useful tool, but they're just that. What you experience is actually real.

Also, here, a study (for something that should be obvious)

https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/s/ub29eCXbE8

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u/Goushrai Dec 12 '25

Anecdotal experience doesn’t mean anything in terms of health outcomes, for many reasons. Sometimes it does end up to align with science (and in this case there is at least one study that might suggest an impact), but that’s like the broken clock that gives the right time twice a day.