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#446 – Ed Barnhart: Maya, Aztec, Inca, and Lost Civilizations of South America

Lex Fridman Podcast

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The Tragic Cost of Disease: Knowledge Lost

The arrival of Europeans in the Americas resulted in a catastrophic outbreak of diseases that decimated Indigenous populations, leading to an estimated 90% mortality rate in the first 50 years, equating to around 150 million deaths. This calamity was compounded by the contemporaneous medical understanding rooted in the four humors theory, which hindered effective treatment. The loss was not just in lives; the young and old, who held essential cultural and practical knowledge, perished, leading to a significant gap in communal wisdom and heritage.

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