+- Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum (https://www.scivillage.com)
+-- Forum: Culture (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-49.html)
+--- Forum: Weird & Beyond (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-123.html)
+--- Thread: The Stoned Ape Hypothesis: Did magic mushrooms influence human evolution? (/thread-11664.html)
The Stoned Ape Hypothesis: Did magic mushrooms influence human evolution? - C C - Jan 30, 2022
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/stoned-ape-hypothesis.htm
EXCERPTS: . . . Neither Terence nor Dennis McKenna referred to this hypothesis by the name "stoned ape," which Dennis believes misrepresents the idea and dumbs down the concept. Nevertheless, the name has stuck.
In essence, the hypothesis suggests we owe the emergence of language and self-reflection to ancient, sustained consumption of psilocybin mushrooms. The exact timeline for the emergence of consciousness varies, but Dennis believes the process may have begun as far back as 2 million years ago.
"We know the brain tripled in size about 2 million years ago, and probably the ecosystems which put hominids, cattle and mushrooms together were around that old," Dennis says, referring to the dung from which psilocybin mushrooms emerge.
According to Dr. Thomas Falk, a professor of Philosophy and Education at the University of Dayton, the hypothesis also provides an explanation for the so-called "creative explosion" that occurred 40,000 years ago in homo sapiens, prior to their migration from Africa to Europe. It is here that we see an apparent leap in human cognitive ability. "For the first time ever, these humans lived in worlds of their own creation, materially and symbolically," Falk says via email.
[...] In "Food of the Gods," Terence McKenna made his argument based on noted ... shamanistic traditions in ancient cultures, and the known and hypothetical range of psychedelic plants and fungi in ancient times. ... "Psychedelic mushrooms appear advantageous for adaptation to new circumstances because they de-pattern the mind/brain, alter modes of perception and induce synaesthesia," Falk says.
[...] In his 2018 book "How to Change Your Mind," Michael Pollan called it "the epitome of all mycocentric speculation," stressing that its very premise is not susceptible to proof or disproof. The stoned ape hypothesis is simply not the sort of hypothesis that can be taken up by a scientific study. It involves the emergence and nature of consciousness, as well as the true potential of psychedelic compounds — all subjects rife with their own mysteries.
However, it's not the only possible explanation on the table. "Human intelligence/consciousness appears to have been an emergent phenomenon," Falk says. "That is, there were many evolutionary factors, likely unrelated, that nevertheless entered into random combination and in so doing created a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts."
[...] The stoned ape hypothesis is not likely to leap to the level of scientific theory in the foreseeable future, but the sort of modern psychedelic reconnection that Terence McKenna and others advocated might well come to pass — especially as more studies examine potential therapeutic uses.
"If psychedelics live up to their promise and are integrated into medicine and health care, it will revolutionize paradigms of healing," Dennis says. "And I am fond of saying that psychedelics are medicines for the soul, they can heal not only individuals, but society on a global scale [...] if mushrooms were present and played a role that catapulted our species into history, maybe now, as history is ending and we transition to some kind of post historical existence, they are there to guide us in that process. We still have much to learn from these humble fungi, as science is confirming." (MORE - missing details)