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Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

nhmu.utah.edu

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Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#241

Post by bamboozled »

Sam6late wrote: post #153
estimator7292 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really fucking suspicious that mushrooms evolved mechanisms to produce serotonin. But it helps when you remember that a mushroom is the fruit of a (usually) much larger organism. Then you can start applying normal fruit rules. Some want to be eaten, or picked up and moved around. Some want to keep insects from infesting the fruit. Others don't give a damn and release spores into the wind or water. Also remember…

BTW, Caffeine is also a naturally occurring insecticide, yet humans tend to repurpose and hack things.

Love me some Capsaicin, even though I’m not supposed too (I guess)

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#242

Post by jyounker »

Sam6late wrote: post #153
estimator7292 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really fucking suspicious that mushrooms evolved mechanisms to produce serotonin. But it helps when you remember that a mushroom is the fruit of a (usually) much larger organism. Then you can start applying normal fruit rules. Some want to be eaten, or picked up and moved around. Some want to keep insects from infesting the fruit. Others don't give a damn and release spores into the wind or water. Also remember…

BTW, Caffeine is also a naturally occurring insecticide, yet humans tend to repurpose and hack things.

It's even weirder than that. It turns out that at very low concentrations caffeine seems to have similar effects on insect neurology as it does on ours. There are some plant species whose flowers produce caffeinated nectar. Bees seem to like these flowers preferentially, and have an easier time remembering where they are. (Yes, bees get buzzed.)

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#243

Post by bavell »

DonHopkins wrote: post #227
bavell wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe won't be viewed favorably by the HN crowd, but I enjoyed the most recent Bret Weinstein interview on Joe Rogan [0] where Bret talks about his pet theory on natural selection / evolution (maybe 2/3 way through the interview). Basically, the "junk" DNA we have may be "variables" that influence form and morphology, thus giving natural selection a vastly reduced design space to search for viable mutations. E.g. not…

[flagged]

1) No one asked why it's being down voted (to... -1, the horror). I'm not here for internet points.

2) This isn't my field - I am not making any claims, merely relaying what I thought was an interesting concept/mechanism I hadn't heard of before, that I thought other curious individuals here might also think was interesting. Isn't that the entire point of HN? I would have very much appreciated links or something to Google over this bizarre analysis of why my comment is downvoted. I didn't know this wasn't novel and was accepted science.

3) I understand Bret/Joe aren't looked upon favorably by certain crowds, particularly on this forum. I tried to get ahead of the "but didn't you know they can't be trusted!" comments and attempt to focus on the substance. If the substance is wrong, great! Let's talk about that.

4) You are assuming malice where there is none, and calling me disrespectful and insisting I must know things. I find that quite disrespectful and uncalled for. Not everyone has your opinions or knows what you know. 10k a day and all that https://xkcd.com/1053/

HN guidelines: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#244

Post by gus_massa »

justinclift wrote: post #209
mjanx123 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brain is a fiber network like the mycelium, likely the same genes (animals are related to mushrooms) and neurotransmitters are involved in its function.

> animals are related to mushrooms ??? Apparently in very early evolution animals and fungi shared a common ancestor. That's a pretty far cry from "related to" as its generally used.

Slightly related as mushrooms are closer to animal than to plants, as anyone in a grocery store would guess.

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#245

Post by d-lisp »

Razengan wrote: post #179

I say it again, fungi and cephalopods are the closest things to aliens we have on this world.

The more I look at Animalia species the more I tend to judge this is all alien compared to ... mountains.

Eyes, hair, hands, feet, genitalia : this all becomes pretty weird if I look at it "objectively".

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#246

Post by jyounker »

uh_uh wrote: post #83
VanshPatel99 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect this way of thinking about evolution would be common but unfortunately it isn't. I feel the way we say "X animal evolved to do Y" sets the ton as if it was a active, thought out decision. Instead, it was just 1000s of mutation happened and maybe a certain kind was able to survive while other wasn't. It is more of a mathematical concept than conscious one.

I find it hard to believe that evolution is completely blind. The search space that it can explore via mutations is astronomically large. Considering that the experiment is run at planet-scale over billions of years doesn't really save the argument as it takes some specimen years to develop and get feedback on their fitness. It's hard to believe that it's truly just random "bit-flips". I'm not trying to suggest woo h…

The constraint is a life-forms' existing form. A given genetic sequence can only move (in general) a small distance from the existing sequence.

Since you're already starting with a successful sequence, the odds are that a small variant on that sequence is also going to be only marginally more or less successful than the original sequence.

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#247

Post by meindnoch »

mjanx123 wrote: post #183
estimator7292 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really fucking suspicious that mushrooms evolved mechanisms to produce serotonin. But it helps when you remember that a mushroom is the fruit of a (usually) much larger organism. Then you can start applying normal fruit rules. Some want to be eaten, or picked up and moved around. Some want to keep insects from infesting the fruit. Others don't give a damn and release spores into the wind or water. Also remember…

The brain is a fiber network like the mycelium, likely the same genes (animals are related to mushrooms) and neurotransmitters are involved in its function.

No.

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#248

Post by mc32 »

h33t-l4x0r wrote: post #205
boxed wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All spices basically too afaik.

Chilis, tobacco and tomatoes are all in the same family (nightshades). And they are all "New World" plants. Which means Europe had to live without them until 1600 or so. If you can call that living.

Imagine Indian food without chilies… it’d be as dull as Russian food.

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#249

Post by mc32 »

justinclift wrote: post #209
mjanx123 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brain is a fiber network like the mycelium, likely the same genes (animals are related to mushrooms) and neurotransmitters are involved in its function.

> animals are related to mushrooms ??? Apparently in very early evolution animals and fungi shared a common ancestor. That's a pretty far cry from "related to" as its generally used.

It’s “alive” therefore it must have an early common ancestor and thus related… people like stretching definitions.

At some point when aliens are confirmed and if they were carbon based you might have people say earth species and alien species are “related”.

Re: Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

#250

Post by blincoln »

johnea wrote: post #60
joe8756438 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

exactly, the real question is what the elves are doing while they’re unseen.

We should've asked Terence McKenna... It could be a subspecies of the "machine elves"...

This was my first thought as well. I've always been fascinated by written accounts of DMT triggering such oddly specific effects for users.
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