Interesting Video about Psychedelics

[Razard86]

This is an interesting video about Mushrooms and their place in history in relation to Human Evolution. Check it out and ponder what it could mean. 

 

[zurew]

This theory is falsifiable. We could give some shrooms to a monkey and then monitor his brain. Of course this wouldn't be a 2 day long experiment this would probably take 100s of years or even thousands to see if this if the theory is actually true or not. But to see if the theory has some validity to it, we wouldn't need to wait thousands of years, if the shroom has even a slight effect on the monkey's brain, then that should be detectable without waiting around for 100s of years. 

We could also see if the descendants of that particular monkey has a slightly different brain than the normal ones. Of course that wouldn't automatically mean that the theory is true, but it might strengthen the potential validity of the theory.

[Razard86]

On 8/8/2022 at 3:12 AM, zurew said:

This theory is falsifiable. We could give some shrooms to a monkey and then monitor his brain. Of course this wouldn't be a 2 day long experiment this would probably take 100s of years or even thousands to see if this if the theory is actually true or not. But to see if the theory has some validity to it, we wouldn't need to wait thousands of years, if the shroom has even a slight effect on the monkey's brain, then that should be detectable without waiting around for 100s of years. 

We could also see if the descendants of that particular monkey has a slightly different brain than the normal ones. Of course that wouldn't automatically mean that the theory is true, but it might strengthen the potential validity of the theory.

Yeah would be an interesting experiment. I hope it happens.

[Nilsi]

Check out Terrence McKennas book "The Food of Gods," if you're interested in this hypothesis. He goes to great lengths to qualify this hypothesis and provides a lot of anthropological and archaeological evidence, that makes it sound quite plausible. It's still quite ambitious and speculative (as most of his work is) and seems to me more like an interesting thought experiment than anything.

[Danioover9000]

   In nature, psychedelics functions, in some plants and animals like insects, as either poisons or to manipulate behaviours. For example, some parasites that prey on Cicada use psilocybin as a way to make male Cicadas horny all the time, to help spread itself to other Cicada, while eating the majority of it's abdominal structures out leaving husks of it's matter.

   Another example is naturally occurring 5-MeO-DMT in small toads, as poison and bitter flavoring. Why? To discourage predators from eating the toad.  

[Razard86]

6 hours ago, Nilsi said:

Check out Terrence McKennas book "The Food of Gods," if you're interested in this hypothesis. He goes to great lengths to qualify this hypothesis and provides a lot of anthropological and archaeological evidence, that makes it sound quite plausible. It's still quite ambitious and speculative (as most of his work is) and seems to me more like an interesting thought experiment than anything.

Yeah I agree, and the book was mentioned in the video too I believe as well.

 

2 hours ago, Danioover9000 said:

   In nature, psychedelics functions, in some plants and animals like insects, as either poisons or to manipulate behaviours. For example, some parasites that prey on Cicada use psilocybin as a way to make male Cicadas horny all the time, to help spread itself to other Cicada, while eating the majority of it's abdominal structures out leaving husks of it's matter.

   Another example is naturally occurring 5-MeO-DMT in small toads, as poison and bitter flavoring. Why? To discourage predators from eating the toad.  

Exactly true. Also apparently.....the bacteria in our intestines...influence what we choose to eat as well by releasing chemicals that interface with our brain. Its very funny how nature is so got dang subtle.

[Carl-Richard]

When he says there is no explanation for the rapid brain growth of homo sapiens, that is a bit inaccurate. There are many plausible explanations that make sense. I just think there is not a definitive answer of which explanation is the most plausible one or that accounts for most of the brain growth.

• Bipedalism freeing up the hands and causing a selection pressure for fine motor skills and advanced tool use.
• Hunting and firemaking leading to better nutrition (eating meat, cooking food).
• Brain growth leading to narrower birth canals, which causes babies to be born underdeveloped with smaller heads and needing more care, thus creating a selection pressure for better social skills between parents and young, leading to complex communication and language, which also requires a bigger brain, which then creates a positive feedback loop (bigger brain => need better social skills => need bigger brain).