Warning: this text is not an apology for psychedelic drugs which have their share of danger and deleterious psychoses of which we must be wary.
Without encroaching on the magisterium of the very competent Hugo Dumas, I will talk about the series The Last of Us. A production in which two heroes must survive in a post-apocalyptic world where humans zombified by a cordyceps mushroom roam. The best known of these parasitic manipulators is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.
This fungus squats on a carpenter ant, zombifies it and brings it to an atrocious and well-scripted death. As in the popular series, the ant becomes a simple puppet at the mercy of the parasite, who has become a puppeteer.
Since production is a hit, the curiosity of televores for this fungal parasitism also increased. So, instead of telling you the sequences of this evolutionary sorcery, I’m going to answer the question that many people ask themselves: can mushrooms control the human brain?
The fungus that inspired the series is a species related to ergot, another fungus that triggers uncontrollable muscle convulsions in people it infects.
In a great book called the hidden worldbiologist Merlin Sheldrake reports that the accusers of the famous Salem trials were probably intoxicated (zombified) by alkaloids of this fungus which contaminates cereals.
In the XVIe century, midwives in France and Germany used the powers of ergot to trigger uterine contractions. A tradition that will lead to the discovery of LSD, an alkaloid of fungal origin that has also zombified many humans.
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann discovered LSD, the abbreviation for lysergic acid diethylamide. Hoffman, who worked for the company Sandoz, had received the mission to search in ergot for molecules potentially capable of stimulating blood circulation. By 1938, he had synthesized the 25 alkaloids contained in the mushroom. To the last molecule, the one that will be at the center of the counter-culture of the 1960s, he will then give the name of LSD-25.
To all lords, all honor: the first acid trip will be experienced by the discoverer. An experience that propelled him into a universe as parallel as that of the carpenter ant held on a leash by Ophiocordyceps. After LSD, Hofmann will also be the first to synthesize psilocybin, a psychoactive alkaloid present in psilocybe, this magic mushroom that grew in Mexico.
According to Michael Pollan, author of Journey to the edge of the mind, these molecules of fungal origin have changed the course of social, political and cultural history, as well as the individual journeys of millions of people. The author even draws a line between the discovery of these drugs and the birth of Silicon Valley. The relationship may not be direct, he says, but a connection can be made between the arrival of psychedelic drugs and the tech boom that would occur 20 years later in Silicon Valley.
More than just a control, these fungal alkaloids leave lasting traces in the human brain. LSD and psilocybin are able to open the door of human consciousness and bring about a dissolution of the ego there.
Moreover, in the 1950s, these molecules were regularly used by specialists and therapists to treat the distress accompanying a diagnosis of cancer, nicotine addiction, alcoholism, obsessive compulsive disorders, etc. Unfortunately, the festive excesses with these drugs (which can also be very dangerous) sowed panic and pushed politicians to repress the use of psychedelics from 1965.
How could we, in the middle of the Cold War, tolerate molecules that lead the brain of youth to criticize capitalism and contest the place of humans in the biosphere? How could capitalism celebrate molecules which, without being harmless, shake up relationships with time, sweep away certainties and push towards a communion with nature?
Remember that before falling into the hands of the Western world, the Mazatec nation of the Oaxaca region, which used psilocybe in religious rituals, called it “flesh of the gods”. If, as the Mazatec leaders did, the political and intellectual elites of the Western world had allowed this mushroom to lead them to the light, perhaps our impact on the planet would have been less dramatic.
Unfortunately or fortunately, this time humanity has turned its back on the wisdom of the fungal world. I say well this time, because at the very beginning of the development of human civilizations, there were mushrooms to control us by the belly and the brain.
To be convinced of this, just think of the place of bread, alcohol and wine in our evolution. If these foods are widely quoted in the sacred texts, it is also largely thanks to the work of microscopic fungi, yeasts.
Mazatec spiritual leaders celebrated the “flesh of the gods”, and with his bread and wine, the priest also celebrated the work of yeasts. He even equates the products of microbial fermentation with the flesh and blood of a “son of God”.
In summary, let’s say that the zombification of humanity by the fungus is more subtle than the images of fear conveyed in the series The Last of Us. It is also true that mushrooms harbor malevolent forces that give us diseases and slaughter our agriculture. But who said that gods and spirits are always kind to humanity?