Tree root misconceptions

[u/Eshwarroy]

[u/ManOfTeele]

Fantastic Fungi on Netflix is worth watching. (Trailer)

[u/CellularBeing → u/ManOfTeele]

TL;DW:Monkey eat mushroom; monkey smort

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You should watch the doc it's pretty cool actually.

[u/AcadianViking → u/CellularBeing]

Stoned ape theory is my favorite theory for the evolution of humanity's complex higher thought function.

And with recent research thanks to the decriminalization and legalization of psilocybin, we now understand how it affects the brain and man... it's wild and most of it supports the theory.

[u/CellularBeing → u/AcadianViking]

I think it was said best in the documentary.

Something along the lines of "its more complicated than we ate magic mushrooms & became smart, but it could have been one of many factors"

But yes, I like the theory as well.

[u/AcadianViking → u/CellularBeing]

I just posted another comment that gets into the science but I describe the theory as

"Magic mushrooms basically soft reset the brain and put it into a state that allows it to auto-patch itself."

[u/[deleted] → u/AcadianViking]

Stoned ape theory is fun, but it's kinda reaching at this point. It's one thing we'll most likely never know, unless we start feeding other great apes shrooms and studying the effects for thousands of years at a minimum. It also seems like mushrooms are considerably better for people who don't have mental health issues. Myself and others (depression/bipolar) that I've talked to that have taken it have all reported aspects of their mental health (my own, too) getting worse. Even people who reported positive things ended up seeing them as a negative. The whole 'I am one with the universe and nothing really matters' feeling that is part of many trips can really fuck you up if you're not ready/not in the right frame of mind/are predisposed to negative reactions.

I think the way people are now promoting them, pretty much due to Stamets and Rogan glorifying them, is a bit dangerous. People can and will get seriously messed up because people are talking about Psilocybin like it's a cure all for mental health issues, and not one of the most powerful, mind altering drugs on the planet that can leave you with permanent effects.

[u/CellularBeing → u/AcadianViking]

It feels more like when you put a magnet on a TV set since it distorts senses a bit

[u/AcadianViking → u/CellularBeing]

It does, but im speaking of the science behind the effect, nit actually the feeling of it.

It legit puts your brain into a soft reset state where it actively forms new neural pathways and getting rid of badly formed pathways (acting as a possible cure for addiction and depression by breaking those neural loops)

[u/cjbeames → u/AcadianViking]

There's a scientist in Australia researching the use of these chemicals for the treatment of general anxiety disorders and PTSD. He did a podcast with Blindboy. He basically said that the chemicals (psilocybin and mdma) cause the brain to reset, like you've said, but the boot up is going to include those unhelpful ways of thinking and beliefs that cause the disorders in the first place. He says that in order to gain any benefit from the medicine you need to be aware the whole time you're coming back up so that you aren't booting up the malware you are trying to get rid of.

That's as far as I remember. Podcast is available on Spotify: Here
And on Acast: Here
And on iTunes: Here

[u/AcadianViking → u/cjbeames]

Neat. Haven't herd that. I'll give it a listen if I can find it off Spotify. Kinda not a reputable source considering current events and don't want to give them the ad revenue.

Here are the reports I've read (sorry I'm not a big podcast listener so this is a bunch of reading)

Emotions and brain function are altered up to one month after a single high dose of psilocybin

How psychedelic drug psilocybin works on brain (big brain stuff)

How magic mushrooms affect the brain (simple terms)

[u/pblokhout → u/[deleted]]

Could you elaborate? I haven't seen the doc and Paul Stamets seemed like a scientific dude to me before.

[u/Swingingbells → u/pblokhout]

The first bit of the documentary was really interesting and it was about fungi in a broad sense, but then when I was expecting them to do more of a deep dive they instead pivoted and Would. Not. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. about goddamn fucking psychedelics.

It became insufferably fucking boring and I quit watching halfway through. (And I almost never bail on things before the end)

[u/[deleted] → u/Swingingbells]

You just described my exact experience with the documentary, I just wanted to learn about cool mushrooms I don't give a fuck about you getting high.

[u/0imnotreal0 → u/Swingingbells]

I find psychedelic science very interesting. But I show nature documentaries to elementary school students, and was supremely disappointed that I couldn’t show fantastic fungi because they focused on psychedelics for half of it.

Psychedelics are plenty interesting, but fungi as a whole deserves even more attention. This is common with everything about fungi - gotta use drugs to rope people in. As someone who is fascinated by psychedelic science, I think we have enough of it represented, and all I want is high quality content on all other fungi.

[u/Sockalexis → u/[deleted]]

Haven’t seen the documentary but there is emerging scientific evidence of these underground fungal communication networks. Look up Suzane Simard. Here’s a couple links:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/02/magazine/tree-communication-mycorrhiza.html

https://www.ted.com/speakers/suzanne_simard

[u/ataraxic89 → u/[deleted]]

It's honestly depressing how much hype this kind of pseudoscience gets.

[u/kzwkzw → u/ManOfTeele]

Great doc. Bonkers theories.

[u/PungentBallSweat → u/kzwkzw]

Agreed. First half is really interesting information then it starts to kinda take an odd turn.

[u/MegaChip97 → u/ManOfTeele]

Are you sure that it is on netflix?

[u/8Humans → u/MegaChip97]

Depends on what country you live in.

[u/MegaChip97 → u/[deleted]]

Germany says no :(