{"id":104389,"date":"2023-06-01T13:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T17:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=104389"},"modified":"2023-06-08T11:06:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T15:06:36","slug":"benefits-of-psychedelics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/benefits-of-psychedelics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Psychedelics for Individuals and Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are some unexpected benefits of psychedelics? How do psychedelics contribute to humans’ cognitive and spiritual evolution<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In How to Change Your Mind<\/em>, Michael Pollan explains that psychedelics have important social and cultural implications for human society. Psychedelics may have even helped early hominids<\/a> evolve into the self-aware homo sapiens we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out how these substances could help get us out of some of our modern messes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Stoned Ape Theory<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One question posed by Pollan, and which other researchers have pondered, is: Why would these plants and fungi evolve with properties that affect the human mind this way? Some researchers believe that the production of these chemicals by plants and fungi is in service to a symbiotic relationship with humans. <\/strong>And some researchers even suggest that these altered states of consciousness may have been crucial for humanity\u2019s evolution, a main benefit of psychedelics that Pollan describes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1992, ethnobotanist Terence McKenna proposed the \u201cStoned Ape Theory.\u201d His hypothesis was that the cognitive development of hominids was due to their consumption of psilocybin mushrooms, which caused an evolutionary leap in consciousness.<\/strong> The theory suggests that this leap allowed for the development of language, religion, and other forms of symbolic thought\u2014traits that distinguish humans from any other species. Pollan points out, though, that the theory has been contested by other researchers, who argue that there\u2019s no concrete evidence to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effect of these chemicals on humans could be explainable by arguing that they\u2019re toxins, meant to \u201cpoison\u201d predators as a self-defense mechanism. However, Pollan learned from mycologist Paul Stamets that human ingestion of mushrooms actually helps<\/em> the fungi, as the consumer will eventually eliminate their spores elsewhere. Stamets argues that the psilocybin is more likely an <\/strong>attractant <\/em><\/strong>for hosts rather than a <\/strong>deterrent<\/em><\/strong> to predators<\/strong>. And more than just a reproductive strategy, Stamets believes there\u2019s a higher intelligence on Earth that\u2019s attempting to communicate with us through fungi. He argues that fungi are intelligent and that they offer their mind-altering properties to us in exchange for our spreading of their spores. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Pollan is skeptical of some of Stamets\u2019s more radical claims, he admits that his own psychedelic experiences have inspired a feeling of a connective consciousness pervading all of nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Psychoactive Compounds Attractants or Repellents?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Scholars don\u2019t necessarily agree with Stamets\u2019s hypothesis that fungi developed psychoactive properties to attract humans. Some argue that the psilocybin is meant to deter insect predators<\/a>. Because these fungi tend to grow in environments with many insects, typically in animal dung and rotting wood, they may have developed these properties to interfere with the insects\u2019 neurotransmitters.<\/strong> Scientists have shown that interference with flies\u2019 neurotransmitters in this way decreases their appetite.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, even if psychoactive fungi didn\u2019t intentionally co-evolve symbiotically with humans, there\u2019s scholarly evidence to support the claim that <\/strong>they may have facilitated our ancestors\u2019 evolution and survival<\/strong><\/a> in several ways<\/strong>, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n