Joe Rogan’s Favorite Book: Food Of The Gods

Terence McKenna, a botanist, mystic and psychedelic expert, wrote Food Of The Gods in 1992. In a 2008 Q/A, Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster, said it’s his favorite book. In this memo, find out how mushrooms fueled our evolution, gave us storytelling, and more.

An evolutionary mystery: Evolution is slow. But the human brain size tripled in 3 million years - “the fastest advance recorded...in the whole history of life.” What fueled the growth of such a complex organ at such atypical speed?

Terence McKenna’s answer: mushrooms. When our primate ancestors tried mushrooms, they had stimulating psychedelic experiences. They had vivid visions and took in new sensory data. The brain grew to process, categorise, and internalise these strange new experiences.

Research in the 60s showed small doses of psilocybin improved eyesight & heightened awareness - abilities that boosted hunting success. Larger doses were sexually arousing, & led to higher birth rates. Primates who took mushrooms hunted better & had more babies

Hence the genetic changes & the cultural affinity for mushrooms were passed on. Further, at very high doses, psilocybin produces transcendental visions that created the first religions. Tribes with religions had greater coordination and prevailed against tribes that didn’t.

I’ve written about the paradox of mushrooms in another memo - they can feed us, even heal us, but some strains kill us. To separate one mushroom from another, elaborate taxonomies had to be developed. This fueled the birth and growth of language, further expanding the brain.

Stories are born: Early on, cannabis was used to weave ropes & stitch together baskets. But cannabis also gave us psychedelic trips which, McKenna thinks, created storytelling. Note how we talk about storytelling till today: weave a story, spin a yarn, stitch together an excuse.

Mushrooms gave us greater intelligence, which helped us master nature through agriculture. Agricultural surplus led to trade, trade led to cities, and ironically cities alienated us from nature - where we first encountered the mushrooms.

Agriculture required humans to submit to the rhythms of the day and seasons; the modern economy requires people to move like clockwork. In such cultures, hallucinogens can’t be permitted - if they are, people won’t be waking up in the mornings for work.

Bottom line: Our unique evolutionary journey was fueled by psychedelic mushrooms, but now their use is taboo. This is the stoned ape hypothesis, & it invites us to think about what avenues of growth might be unlocked if we reintegrated mushrooms into our life.