Imagine upright man (by now this species of hominid is extinct), who straightened out and became the first of our ancestors to spread beyond one continent. About two million years ago, these hominids, some of which eventually evolved into sentient humans, began to spread out of Africa, coming to Asia and Europe. During their journey, they discovered local flora, fauna, and, when fauna was not nearby, their fecal matter.
But this is only one of the many versions of the original story widely accepted among scholars.
A more radical interpretation of events includes the same animals, feces and plants, and also psychedelic drugs.
Ethnobotanist and psychedelic proponent Terence McKenna, in his book «Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution», stated that upright man evolved into sentient man by encountering «magic mushrooms» that contained the psilocybin. He called it the «stoned ape hypothesis».
But this is only one of the many versions of the original story widely accepted among scholars.
A more radical interpretation of events includes the same animals, feces and plants, and also psychedelic drugs.
Ethnobotanist and psychedelic proponent Terence McKenna, in his book «Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution», stated that upright man evolved into sentient man by encountering «magic mushrooms» that contained the psilocybin. He called it the «stoned ape hypothesis».
McKenna argued that psilocybin caused a rapid reorganization of the primitive brain's ability to process information. This, in turn, triggered a rapid evolution of cognitive abilities, leading to the emergence of early art, language, and technology.
As early humans, he says, we «chewed our way to higher consciousness» by consuming these mushrooms, which he assumed grew on animal dung. Psilocybin, he says, «pulled us out of the animal mind into a world of articulate speech and imagination».
When human cultural evolution led to the domestication of wild cattle, humans began to spend a lot of time around animal droppings, McKenna explained. And because psilocybin mushrooms often grow on cow feces, «human-mushroom interspecies co-dependency intensified and deepened. It was at this time that religious ritual, calendar-making, and natural magic originated».
McKenna, who died in 2000, passionately believed in his hypothesis, but it was never seriously considered by the scientific community during his lifetime. Rejected as overly speculative, McKenna's hypothesis now emerges only in Internet communities and psychedelic pages on Reddit.
As early humans, he says, we «chewed our way to higher consciousness» by consuming these mushrooms, which he assumed grew on animal dung. Psilocybin, he says, «pulled us out of the animal mind into a world of articulate speech and imagination».
When human cultural evolution led to the domestication of wild cattle, humans began to spend a lot of time around animal droppings, McKenna explained. And because psilocybin mushrooms often grow on cow feces, «human-mushroom interspecies co-dependency intensified and deepened. It was at this time that religious ritual, calendar-making, and natural magic originated».
McKenna, who died in 2000, passionately believed in his hypothesis, but it was never seriously considered by the scientific community during his lifetime. Rejected as overly speculative, McKenna's hypothesis now emerges only in Internet communities and psychedelic pages on Reddit.
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But a speech at «Psychedelic Science 2017», a scientific conference on psychedelics attended by scientists, doctors, and artists who believe in the therapeutic potential of these drugs, rekindled interest in the theory.
Paul Stamets, a renowned mycologist who studies psilocybin, spoke in support of the «stoner ape» hypothesis with «Psilocybin Mushrooms and the Mycology of Consciousness».
«I present this to you because I want to bring back the concept of the «stoned ape». It's very important that you understand that 200,000 years ago the human brain suddenly doubled in size, and there is no explanation for this sudden change in the human brain» — Stamets told the audience.
By doubling he is referring to a sudden increase in the size of the human brain.
Some anthropologists believe that the brain size of upright humans doubled between 2 million and 700,000 years ago. At the same time, the brain volume of Homo sapiens tripled between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago.
Paul Stamets, a renowned mycologist who studies psilocybin, spoke in support of the «stoner ape» hypothesis with «Psilocybin Mushrooms and the Mycology of Consciousness».
«I present this to you because I want to bring back the concept of the «stoned ape». It's very important that you understand that 200,000 years ago the human brain suddenly doubled in size, and there is no explanation for this sudden change in the human brain» — Stamets told the audience.
By doubling he is referring to a sudden increase in the size of the human brain.
Some anthropologists believe that the brain size of upright humans doubled between 2 million and 700,000 years ago. At the same time, the brain volume of Homo sapiens tripled between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago.
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Outlining the «stoned ape» hypothesis formulated by McKenna and his brother Dennis, Stamets sketched a portrait of primates coming out of Africa, traveling through the savannas and stumbling upon «the world's largest mushroom growing on animal droppings».
«I think it's a very, very plausible hypothesis, explaining the sudden evolution of intelligent man from his primate relatives» — Stamets said. He was applauded wildly.
Isn't it finally time to take the «stoned ape» hypothesis seriously? This would require applying our advances in scientific research to psilocybin, recent archaeological discoveries, and our vague understanding of the nature of consciousness, and then fitting it all into our current understanding of human evolution. We must begin with common threads between McKenna's view of the development of consciousness and other, more common theories, including the generally accepted view that it evolved over thousands of years and that speech played a central role in its evolution.
«I think McKenna's claims have a rational basis» — says paleontologist Martin Lockley.
But Lockley, author of «How Humanity Came into Being: The Evolution of Consciousness», has one complaint with McKenna's reasoning: the «stoned-ape» hypothesis postulates that our ancestors became conscious through drug intoxication, but agreeing with it also means agreeing that consciousness had a single cause.
Most scientists, including Lockley, believe that it was by no means that simple.
«I think it's a very, very plausible hypothesis, explaining the sudden evolution of intelligent man from his primate relatives» — Stamets said. He was applauded wildly.
Isn't it finally time to take the «stoned ape» hypothesis seriously? This would require applying our advances in scientific research to psilocybin, recent archaeological discoveries, and our vague understanding of the nature of consciousness, and then fitting it all into our current understanding of human evolution. We must begin with common threads between McKenna's view of the development of consciousness and other, more common theories, including the generally accepted view that it evolved over thousands of years and that speech played a central role in its evolution.
«I think McKenna's claims have a rational basis» — says paleontologist Martin Lockley.
But Lockley, author of «How Humanity Came into Being: The Evolution of Consciousness», has one complaint with McKenna's reasoning: the «stoned-ape» hypothesis postulates that our ancestors became conscious through drug intoxication, but agreeing with it also means agreeing that consciousness had a single cause.
Most scientists, including Lockley, believe that it was by no means that simple.
Consciousness is a very complex thing that we are just beginning to understand. In general, anthropologists agree that this function of the human mind has to do with receiving and processing information, which has evolved through thousands of years of natural selection.
The state of consciousness includes awareness of multiple qualitative experiences: sensations and feelings, nuanced sensory qualities, and cognitive processes such as evaluative thinking and memory.
In 2016, scientists demonstrated where it all lives in the brain, discovering the physical connection between the areas responsible for arousal and awareness.
McKenna's theory links the totality of this complex phenomenon to a single impulse. In his view, psilocybin mushrooms were the «evolutionary catalyst» that ignited consciousness, prompting early humans to engage in such experiences as sex, bonding with kin, and spirituality. Most scientists would argue that McKenna's explanation is redundant - and probably naively simplistic.
But if it wasn't psychedelic mushrooms that triggered the process, then what did? Michael Graziano, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University, has not heard of the «stoned ape» theory, but agrees that the evolution of human consciousness is somehow related to the formation of communities. He argues that the brain had to develop the ability to understand subjective experiences in order to serve social needs.
The state of consciousness includes awareness of multiple qualitative experiences: sensations and feelings, nuanced sensory qualities, and cognitive processes such as evaluative thinking and memory.
In 2016, scientists demonstrated where it all lives in the brain, discovering the physical connection between the areas responsible for arousal and awareness.
McKenna's theory links the totality of this complex phenomenon to a single impulse. In his view, psilocybin mushrooms were the «evolutionary catalyst» that ignited consciousness, prompting early humans to engage in such experiences as sex, bonding with kin, and spirituality. Most scientists would argue that McKenna's explanation is redundant - and probably naively simplistic.
But if it wasn't psychedelic mushrooms that triggered the process, then what did? Michael Graziano, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University, has not heard of the «stoned ape» theory, but agrees that the evolution of human consciousness is somehow related to the formation of communities. He argues that the brain had to develop the ability to understand subjective experiences in order to serve social needs.
Since it was evolutionarily advantageous to possess high social intelligence, it is reasonable to assume that consciousness emerged as a survival tactic.
«It is possible that consciousness originated as a tool for observing, understanding, and predicting the behavior of other creatures, and then we turned this skill inward to observe ourselves and model ourselves. Or maybe consciousness originated much earlier, when basic focus of attention first emerged, and it has to do with the ability to focus brain resources on a limited number of signals. It happened early in evolution, probably half a billion years ago» — says Graziano.
The theories of anthropologist Ian Tattersall, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, have nothing to do with psychedelic mushrooms, but they emphasize socialization as much as the «stoned ape» hypothesis.
In his 2004 paper «What happened in the origin of human consciousness?» Tattersall argued that self-consciousness was born when early man learned to perceive himself separately from nature and became able to evaluate and express thoughts within his mind. Soon after, language developed, followed by modern human cognitive abilities.
«It is possible that consciousness originated as a tool for observing, understanding, and predicting the behavior of other creatures, and then we turned this skill inward to observe ourselves and model ourselves. Or maybe consciousness originated much earlier, when basic focus of attention first emerged, and it has to do with the ability to focus brain resources on a limited number of signals. It happened early in evolution, probably half a billion years ago» — says Graziano.
The theories of anthropologist Ian Tattersall, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, have nothing to do with psychedelic mushrooms, but they emphasize socialization as much as the «stoned ape» hypothesis.
In his 2004 paper «What happened in the origin of human consciousness?» Tattersall argued that self-consciousness was born when early man learned to perceive himself separately from nature and became able to evaluate and express thoughts within his mind. Soon after, language developed, followed by modern human cognitive abilities.
The question that an anthropologist has no answer to (but McKenna does) is when did this key transitional moment take place? «Where did the modern thought process emerge? Almost certainly in Africa, as did modern human anatomy. It is on this continent that we find the first glimpses of modern behavior...But the moment of transformation still eludes us and will probably elude us for a long time to come» — writes Tattersall.
«Human evolution is a terribly complex process in which several factors played a role» — says archaeologist Elisa Guerra-Doche. Her study on drug use in prehistory tells how early humans used mind-altering drugs for ritual and spiritual purposes.
Although Eliza has encountered traces of opium poppy in the teeth of Neolithic men, ancient charred cannabis seeds, and even abstract drawings on cave walls in the Italian Alps depicting human consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms, she does not agree with the «stoned ape» hypothesis.
«From my point of view, McKenna's hypothesis lacks direct evidence, that is, any evidence of the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms by early Homo sapiens. He refers to the cave paintings on the Algerian plateau of Tassilin-Adjer, where there are several images of mushrooms, but we must not forget that these drawings date back to the Neolithic» — says Elisa.
«Human evolution is a terribly complex process in which several factors played a role» — says archaeologist Elisa Guerra-Doche. Her study on drug use in prehistory tells how early humans used mind-altering drugs for ritual and spiritual purposes.
Although Eliza has encountered traces of opium poppy in the teeth of Neolithic men, ancient charred cannabis seeds, and even abstract drawings on cave walls in the Italian Alps depicting human consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms, she does not agree with the «stoned ape» hypothesis.
«From my point of view, McKenna's hypothesis lacks direct evidence, that is, any evidence of the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms by early Homo sapiens. He refers to the cave paintings on the Algerian plateau of Tassilin-Adjer, where there are several images of mushrooms, but we must not forget that these drawings date back to the Neolithic» — says Elisa.
If the scientific facts behind McKenna's hypothesis are not very solid, what value does it have in finding the origins of human consciousness? At best, the «stoned ape» hypothesis is, as Stamets says, an «unprovable hypothesis» that is only consistent with some of the knowledge we currently have about the evolution of consciousness. However, McKenna is credited with expressing an idea that scientists have only recently been able to prove: psilocybin can cause physical changes in the brain.
In recent years, researchers have found that psilocybin induces a state of «unrestricted cognition», triggering a pronounced wave of activity in a primitive part of the brain, an area associated with emotional reactions.
Under psilocybin, coordination between the parts of the brain associated with emotion and memory is enhanced, creating patterns of brain activity similar to those seen in a sleeping person who is dreaming.
At the same time, the part of the brain that controls higher-level thinking and is associated with a certain «inner feeling» becomes disorganized, which is why some people who have used psilocybin feel a loss of their body and their soul, resulting in a sense of being part of the world rather than part of their own body.
In recent years, researchers have found that psilocybin induces a state of «unrestricted cognition», triggering a pronounced wave of activity in a primitive part of the brain, an area associated with emotional reactions.
Under psilocybin, coordination between the parts of the brain associated with emotion and memory is enhanced, creating patterns of brain activity similar to those seen in a sleeping person who is dreaming.
At the same time, the part of the brain that controls higher-level thinking and is associated with a certain «inner feeling» becomes disorganized, which is why some people who have used psilocybin feel a loss of their body and their soul, resulting in a sense of being part of the world rather than part of their own body.
Despite the gaps that McKenna's scientific logic reveals, Amanda Fielding, founder and head of the Beckley Foundation, a major center for psychedelic research, says that we must look beyond McKenna's mistakes and see his greatest idea that human history is inseparable from our fascination with psychedelic drugs.
Even if early man discovered psychoactive substances closer to the Neolithic period, the experience of entering a state of altered consciousness has, in her view, changed human society for the better.
«The images we perceive during psychedelic experiences are a theme that is reflected in ancient art, so I'm sure that psychedelic experiences and other techniques like dancing and music were used by our long-time ancestors to stimulate consciousness, which then contributed to spirituality, art and medicine» — says Fielding.
The «stoned ape» hypothesis is lost in the annals of marginal science, but some of its legacy survives.
Even if early man discovered psychoactive substances closer to the Neolithic period, the experience of entering a state of altered consciousness has, in her view, changed human society for the better.
«The images we perceive during psychedelic experiences are a theme that is reflected in ancient art, so I'm sure that psychedelic experiences and other techniques like dancing and music were used by our long-time ancestors to stimulate consciousness, which then contributed to spirituality, art and medicine» — says Fielding.
The «stoned ape» hypothesis is lost in the annals of marginal science, but some of its legacy survives.
Now that scientists better understand how psilocybin affects the brain on a physical level, they can seriously explore its potential to treat disorders such as substance abuse, anxiety and depression.
If this happens (it probably will) — psilocybin will become part of mainstream culture as an agent of positive change. Isn't that what McKenna ultimately advocated?
We may never know how magical mushrooms helped early humans. But there is no doubt that they contribute to the well-being of modern man, who continues to follow his strange evolutionary path.
Even more interesting information about magic mushrooms:
If this happens (it probably will) — psilocybin will become part of mainstream culture as an agent of positive change. Isn't that what McKenna ultimately advocated?
We may never know how magical mushrooms helped early humans. But there is no doubt that they contribute to the well-being of modern man, who continues to follow his strange evolutionary path.
Even more interesting information about magic mushrooms:
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