Fantastic Fungi

...on Netflix, potentially the most important show I've ever watched, if what is being presented in it is true, then it provides a crucial understanding for our survival as living organisms on this planet.

Basically it presents evidence that mycelium is intelligent, and might actually be the formative mother of consciousness which fed the growth in size, and development, of the human brain from homo habilis to homo sapiens sapiens at a rate of development unparalleled in nature. Other cool stuff too.

Smart people should watch this.

Yeah, it's a good flick. The Stoned Ape Hypothesis part is entirely unprovable but compelling nonetheless. We started watching it with the 11. y.o. not realizing it got so into the Psilocybe aspect. But, he's a smart mature kid so we decided to let it ride. At one point he says, "So it, like, makes you silly?" So I said, "Yeah, basically. Remember the part in the The Good Dinosaur where they eat the berries? It's sort of like that." He instantly got it :D

Here's the scene for those that haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQAPaiAwIZA

Attachment 388993

We watched it last night. Good documentary! And I now want to find some Psilocybes.

It's been out a couple of years and I've introducted it to a couple of folks - always an interesting watch. Would love to go on a walk through the woods with mr Stamets. Spent some time in the field with Suzanne Simard, and her TED talks are worth a watch as well. Not sure how the upcoming movie based on her memiors will present her material.

He does look like a fun person to hang out with. Also the mushroom foraging groups look fun. There's probably some overlap in the Venn diagram of mushroom foragers and tele skiers.

I'll look for the TED talks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fofo

He does look like a fun person to hang out with. Also the mushroom foraging groups look fun. There's probably some overlap in the Venn diagram of mushroom foragers and tele skiers.

I'll look for the TED talks!

---

Some?

Great video, thanks for sharing

Paul Stamets is a key figure in Michael Pollan’s book on psychedelics “How To Change Your Mind”

One thing though - the fungus making up the world’s largest organism - it’s killing all the conifers around it. Fungus is not always the benevolent organism the video makes it out to be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TBS

One thing though - the fungus making up the world’s largest organism - it’s killing all the conifers around it. Fungus is not always the benevolent organism the video makes it out to be.

---

I caught that and was wondering when the aspen in the boreal lost it's status. I worked under the regional forest pathologist in Nelson, Dr Norris in the early 90's, and he was trying hard to get A. ostoyae over the southern BC, northern WA and ID to be recorded as the largest organism, but couldn't gain much traction at the time. He retired, and I lost track of any further efforts.

My personal theory is that while the stoned ape thing might be sort of true, our brains were bound to grow once we started throwing things at animals to try and kill them. Thrown projectiles equals the ability to plan and think ahead into the future, albeit only a short ways into the future, I still think it expanded our little minds exponentially which led to more in depth understanding of the existence of time.

The question is, did we get the upright walking and opposable thumbs by accident, so to speak, making the ability to throw things inevitable, or were they evolved as a result of hunting with projectiles?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BCMtnHound

I caught that and was wondering when the aspen in the boreal lost it's status. I worked under the regional forest pathologist in Nelson, Dr Norris in the early 90's, and he was trying hard to get A. ostoyae over the southern BC, northern WA and ID to be recorded as the largest organism, but couldn't gain much traction at the time. He retired, and I lost track of any further efforts.

---

I think they are measuring the fungus size by area (~2400 acres IIRC).. if measured by mass I’m guessing some aspen groves are bigger

One of the better docs I've seen as of late.

Not just for stoners. Fungus is an incredible phenomenon.

A pretty good introduction to a range of fascinating concepts, and perhaps an impetus to go deeper. The visualizations of nutrient transfer between trees were excellent, really brought the process to life.

What it made me think of, is the "mana" that the Israelites ate while wandering in the desert for forty years, during which time they were being told they were by the prophet that they were being prepared to be a nation of priests to the deity. The "mana" was to be consumed on the day it was harvested, and became slimy and inedible if they tried to store it.

The idea that they were being guided by a consciousness, that was a subterranean mycelium mind is provocative. What if such an organism was vastly more progressed in consciousness than humans, as a result of extremely long life span, and was nurturing the development of neural pathways to foster the progression of awareness in humans? The fact that mycelium forms a more densely complex network of bio chemical transmission than the human brain, seems to lend itself to such speculation.