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There's a feeling,
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the pulse of eternal knowledge.
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When you sense the oneness,
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you are with us.
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We brought life to Earth.
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You can't see us, but we
flourish all around you.
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Everywhere, in everything,
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and even inside you,
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whether you believe in us or not.
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From your first breath, to your last.
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In darkness, and in the light.
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We are the oldest, and youngest.
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We are the largest, and smallest.
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We are the wisdom of a billion years.
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We are creation.
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We are resurrection,
condemnation, and regeneration.
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We are mushrooms.
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- Mushrooms are very clandestine
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and very much the trickster.
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So, they're hiding from you all the time.
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We're in Agarikon territory now,
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there's some big living stags up here.
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It's always interesting and exhilarating
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to be in the old growth forest,
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but not always rewarding in
accomplishing our mission
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to find a new Agarikon strain.
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But nevertheless, it
beats being in the office.
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Fungi are the grand molecular
decomposers of nature.
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Now, what does that mean?
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Well, they break down wood.
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And here I'm laying in the forest,
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haven't peeked yet, but
here's a piece of wood
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laying down on the ground.
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If I were laying down on
the ground, and I died,
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fungi would leap up to recycle me
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and that's the way of nature.
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00:03:05,260 --> 00:03:10,260
Mushrooms represent rebirth,
rejuvenation, regeneration.
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Fungi generate soil that gives life.
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The task that we face today
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is to understand the language of nature.
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My mission is to discover the language
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of nature of the fungal networks
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that communicate with the ecosystem.
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And I believe nature is intelligent.
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The fact that we lack the language skills
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to communicate with nature does not impugn
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the concept that nature's intelligent.
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It speaks to our inadequacy
for communication.
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If we don't get our act together
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00:04:07,070 --> 00:04:08,740
and come in commonality and understanding
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with the organisms that sustain us today,
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not only will we destroy those organisms,
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but we will destroy ourselves.
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- Mushroom, it's not like a vegetable
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and it's not like a animal,
but it's somewhere in between.
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The fungus is it's own
kingdom all together.
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There's over 1.5 million species.
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That's six times more than plants.
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Of all those species of fungi,
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about 20,000 produce mushrooms,
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and mushrooms come in
an incredible diversity
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of shapes and sizes and
colors and lifestyles.
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There are even bioluminescent mushrooms.
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A lot of people are afraid of mushrooms.
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People associate mushrooms and fungi,
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you know, mold, with death
and decay, which makes sense.
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00:05:34,970 --> 00:05:38,080
You know, there's a lot of
fear because of fungi's role
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in the cycle of life.
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They decompose dead and dying organisms
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and move all those nutrients
back into the cycle.
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They kind of are at the very end of stuff,
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but they're also at the beginning.
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- Once you start working with
mushrooms, you get drawn in.
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A really important difference
between plants and fungi
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is that plants have
evolved to catch your eye.
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When a tomato gets red it is saying,
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hey, I'm ready, come get me.
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The mushrooms don't give a shit.
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They're doing their own thing
and a lot of them are hiding.
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Every time you pick up a mushroom,
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you are faced with the omnivore's dilemma.
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Do I know enough to eat this?
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Should I eat this?
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Will this kill me?
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- And that's one of the reason why people
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are freaked out about
mushrooms, because, yeah,
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there are ones that can kill you.
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There are some that
will take out your liver
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or your kidneys, but to be
honest with you there's berries
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in the woods that can kill you, too.
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So it's, it's really a matter
of knowing your mushrooms.
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There's a huge subculture of mycofiles,
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of people who are
fascinated with mushrooms.
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They hunt mushrooms together
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and they eat mushrooms together,
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00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:06,310
and they are sort of
bloated pleasure seekers
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with a scientific bent.
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00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:09,393
You know, really my kind of crowd.
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Is that tricholoma?
100
00:07:11,987 --> 00:07:13,992
Grifola frondosa.
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This is Cortinarius.
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Agaricus bisporus.
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- That's a Cladonia lichen.
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- So I started attending
these festivals and forays
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and learning more and more.
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It changed the way I saw everything.
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Mushrooms actually were
the window by which
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I came to understand
nature in a deeper way.
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- If we didn't have Fungi,
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we would get this build up of plant matter
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that would choke the Earth.
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I mean they really are the key.
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They break down plant
life and make it usable
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for new plant life and for animal life.
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- They are the digestive
tracks of the forest.
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One of the lifestyles of
fungi is the decomposers
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called saprobres, or rotters, if you want.
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00:08:06,010 --> 00:08:08,910
The yeasts and molds used in making beer
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00:08:08,910 --> 00:08:12,520
and wine and cheese are all saprobes.
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That's actually a penicillin mold
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in Gorgonzola and Roquefort.
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Bourbon is fungi fermented corn.
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But this ability to break
things down is a talent,
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if you will, that can be
harnessed to help us deal
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with some of our problems like pollution.
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These rotters, they can break
down anything that's natural.
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That's what they have evolved to do,
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anything that's hydrocarbon based.
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00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,233
So that includes stuff like oil spills.
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Pollutant problems.
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That's kind of the truth of it.
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- I was a part of this experiment.
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There were four piles
saturated with diesel
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and other petroleum waste.
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00:08:58,790 --> 00:09:02,830
One was a control pile, one
pile was treated with enzymes,
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00:09:02,830 --> 00:09:05,360
one pile, treated with
bacteria and our pile
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00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,750
we inoculated with mushroom spores.
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The fungi absorbs the oil.
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00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,620
The fungi is producing
enzymes for oxidases
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00:09:13,620 --> 00:09:16,280
that break carbon hydrogen bonds.
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These are the same bonds
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that hold hydrogen carbons together,
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so the fungi becomes
saturated with the oil.
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00:09:21,770 --> 00:09:24,130
And then, when we
returned six weeks later,
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all the tarps were removed,
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all the other piles were
dead dark and stinky.
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We come back to our pile and it's covered
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with hundreds of pounds
of oyster mushrooms.
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Some of these mushrooms
are very happy mushrooms,
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they're very large.
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They're showing how much
nutrition that they could obtain,
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00:09:36,550 --> 00:09:40,220
but something else happened
which is an epiphany in my life.
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They sporulated, the
spores attract insects,
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birds then came, bringing
in seeds and our pile
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became an oasis of life.
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- Mushrooms are the
fruiting bodies of fungi,
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so the mushroom is like the apple.
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The bulk of the organism
is growing underground
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and it's composed of these long threads.
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These threads grow one cell at a time
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and then they branch and re-branch,
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growing in every direction they can,
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even three dimensionally.
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And that mass of threads
is called a mycelium.
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A stick falls onto the ground,
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you pull it up and there's mycelium.
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It is virtually everywhere.
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- A mycelium has more
networks than our brain
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has neural pathways, and
works in much the same way,
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with electrolytes, electrical pulses.
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They're the most common species on Earth,
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they're everywhere.
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- Just to give you an
idea of how much fungi
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are in the forest, as
you're walking through,
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there's about 300 miles of fungi,
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under every footstep that you take
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and that's all over the world.
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And they form these massive links,
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it's like a big web just
growing through the forest.
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- Mycelium that can grow
out even just this big
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can have trillions, literally
trillions of end branchings.
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Almost everyone knows about
the computer Internet.
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00:11:27,870 --> 00:11:30,523
The mycelium shares the
same network design.
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Trees are communicating
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using the mycelium as pathways.
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They are connecting one tree to another.
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They're using the mycelium,
too, to feed one another,
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in other words one tree can swap nutrients
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with another tree using
mycelium as the passage way.
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- So we often think of kin recognition
191
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as an animal behavior.
192
00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,550
Humans, you know, we love our babies,
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we know it's our baby
194
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and we're gonna look after that baby.
195
00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,600
Well, we never thought
that plants could do that,
196
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but we're finding in
our research that plants
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can recognize their own kin.
198
00:12:19,690 --> 00:12:21,830
So these mother trees recognize their kin
199
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through their mycorrhizal networks.
200
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The mother tree and the baby
seedlings are sending signals,
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talking to each other.
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When they're connected together and carbon
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is moving between plants,
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the trees are supporting the weaker ones.
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If she knows that there's pests around
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and that she's under danger,
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she will increase her
competitive environment
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towards her own babies so that
they regenerate further away.
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It's a magical thing,
and this could not happen
210
00:12:54,050 --> 00:12:55,384
without the fungi.
211
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,540
- I'm not the super-idealist tree hugger.
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00:13:07,540 --> 00:13:08,830
I do hug trees occasionally.
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00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:10,990
I do confess to that, but I was a logger.
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00:13:10,990 --> 00:13:12,646
I cut the woods.
215
00:13:22,070 --> 00:13:25,630
- Damn, we got a two for one on that one!
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00:13:25,630 --> 00:13:28,600
Cutting down these trees and
we're going to let them rot!
217
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,050
But we're letting them rot with a purpose.
218
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We're letting them rot
with shiitake mushrooms,
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00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:34,325
which are delicious and medicinal.
220
00:13:34,325 --> 00:13:35,207
Yes!
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00:13:35,207 --> 00:13:39,410
- September '74, Paul was working
as a logger in Darrington.
222
00:13:40,420 --> 00:13:41,730
I went up to visit him one weekend
223
00:13:41,730 --> 00:13:43,550
and we were out walking in the woods
224
00:13:43,550 --> 00:13:45,780
and I start showing him
all these mushrooms.
225
00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:47,570
You know, he said, "What are those?"
226
00:13:47,570 --> 00:13:49,650
And I said, "Looking at
mushrooms, for the first time."
227
00:13:49,650 --> 00:13:50,680
We came around the corner
228
00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:52,150
and there's this purple mushroom,
229
00:13:52,150 --> 00:13:53,960
I'd never seen one like that before,
230
00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:55,530
and it was just like a huge epiphany.
231
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Like, woo woo woo woo woo, you know?
232
00:13:58,020 --> 00:14:00,870
And that's where it began,
he just never stopped.
233
00:14:00,870 --> 00:14:04,040
- These are old red bell hood polypores.
234
00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:05,614
Elegant Polyporus.
235
00:14:05,614 --> 00:14:06,657
It's got a free stem.
236
00:14:06,657 --> 00:14:09,310
This is a delicious
shrimp russula mushroom.
237
00:14:09,310 --> 00:14:10,730
Edible in choice.
238
00:14:10,730 --> 00:14:12,680
It grows here in the old-growth forest.
239
00:14:14,660 --> 00:14:18,723
- It's rare in science you
have such powerful amateurs.
240
00:14:19,649 --> 00:14:21,580
The meaning of the word
amateur is a lover.
241
00:14:21,580 --> 00:14:23,600
And, he loves his mushrooms.
242
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,090
And he's proven that amateurs can do
243
00:14:26,090 --> 00:14:28,440
really credible, important research.
244
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,570
And that used to be the
case, the 19th century,
245
00:14:30,570 --> 00:14:33,390
obviously, you know, was full
of great amateur naturalists,
246
00:14:33,390 --> 00:14:34,640
Darwin being one of them.
247
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,630
- He's handed over to this
universal consciousness.
248
00:14:43,630 --> 00:14:45,563
That's where genius comes from.
249
00:14:47,110 --> 00:14:50,860
Every magnificent thing that
humans have ever achieved
250
00:14:50,860 --> 00:14:52,253
comes from that place.
251
00:14:59,710 --> 00:15:03,430
- I grew up in a small town
called Columbiana, Ohio.
252
00:15:03,430 --> 00:15:06,120
Very conservative, very religious.
253
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,134
And my brother John went to Yale,
254
00:15:09,134 --> 00:15:10,560
and my brother Bill went to Cornell,
255
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:12,813
so we were an academic family.
256
00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:18,630
But I had a severe stuttering
habit that greatly interfered
257
00:15:18,630 --> 00:15:21,090
with my ability to express myself.
258
00:15:21,090 --> 00:15:23,800
I went through six
years of speech therapy.
259
00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,360
I could not speak a single sentence
260
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,173
without stuttering profusely.
261
00:15:29,090 --> 00:15:31,623
And nothing in speech
therapy could help me.
262
00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:38,040
I couldn't look at people in
their eyes, so all my life,
263
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:39,570
I stared at the ground.
264
00:15:39,570 --> 00:15:42,340
Anybody came up to me,
I'd stare at the ground.
265
00:15:42,340 --> 00:15:44,153
I found fossils and mushrooms.
266
00:15:59,810 --> 00:16:02,393
We are all of the stars.
267
00:16:03,690 --> 00:16:06,410
My kingdom was borne from the heavens
268
00:16:06,410 --> 00:16:08,933
four and a half billion years ago.
269
00:16:11,670 --> 00:16:13,173
We are the pioneers.
270
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:18,190
We climbed out of the sea
to create the fertile soil
271
00:16:20,370 --> 00:16:24,333
and set the stage for all of life.
272
00:16:31,020 --> 00:16:33,810
- In South Africa in the sediments of lava
273
00:16:33,810 --> 00:16:36,810
they have found fungus like organisms,
274
00:16:36,810 --> 00:16:39,020
mycelium fossils in the lava.
275
00:16:39,020 --> 00:16:42,090
2.4 billion years old.
276
00:16:42,090 --> 00:16:43,820
This is the oldest record
277
00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:47,053
of a multicellular organism on Earth.
278
00:16:48,830 --> 00:16:51,220
This year, another fossil was found
279
00:16:51,220 --> 00:16:52,830
in the sediments of Brazil,
280
00:16:52,830 --> 00:16:55,390
it's 113 million years old,
281
00:16:55,390 --> 00:16:57,641
and it's a perfectly shaped mushroom.
282
00:17:00,490 --> 00:17:04,423
We divided from Fungi about
650 million years ago.
283
00:17:05,290 --> 00:17:09,593
One branch led to Fungi, the
other branch led to animals.
284
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,790
We chose a path of
encirculating our nutrients
285
00:17:13,790 --> 00:17:15,950
in a cellular sack, our stomach.
286
00:17:15,950 --> 00:17:18,440
The mycelium remained underground,
287
00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,949
externally digesting its nutrients.
288
00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:26,500
- Biodiversity surged
289
00:17:33,070 --> 00:17:36,600
until we had these great
cataclysmic extinction events,
290
00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,907
when the asteroids
impacted the Earth, kebam,
291
00:17:39,770 --> 00:17:41,790
enormous amounts of debris was jettisoned
292
00:17:41,790 --> 00:17:42,740
into the atmosphere.
293
00:17:42,740 --> 00:17:44,163
Sunlight was cut off.
294
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:47,823
Plants die, animals die.
295
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,943
And Fungi inherited the Earth.
296
00:17:57,090 --> 00:18:01,020
From those great extinction
events there's one lesson,
297
00:18:01,020 --> 00:18:04,763
those organisms that
paired with fungi survived.
298
00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:09,250
We are more closely related to fungi
299
00:18:09,250 --> 00:18:10,900
than we are to any other kingdom.
300
00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,640
What this means is that we
are descendants of mycelium.
301
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,696
Mycelium is the mother of us all.
302
00:18:26,700 --> 00:18:28,340
Living creatures like fungi
303
00:18:28,340 --> 00:18:31,020
are intelligent in the
sense that they respond
304
00:18:31,020 --> 00:18:32,430
to their environment,
305
00:18:32,430 --> 00:18:35,010
they seek out food and
they defend themselves,
306
00:18:35,010 --> 00:18:38,033
they solve problems,
and that's intelligence.
307
00:18:47,185 --> 00:18:50,810
- A mycelium can
theoretically live forever
308
00:18:50,810 --> 00:18:53,440
as long as it has food to grow into
309
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,610
which is why the oldest and largest
310
00:18:56,610 --> 00:18:59,480
organism on earth is a fungus.
311
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,200
It lives on top of a mountain on Oregon.
312
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,010
It's like thousands of acres
313
00:19:04,010 --> 00:19:05,763
and it's thousands of years old.
314
00:19:09,810 --> 00:19:14,240
The mushroom is the organ
of sexual reproduction,
315
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,493
for the spore of the fungus.
316
00:19:18,390 --> 00:19:21,053
Fungi don't have seeds, they have spores.
317
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,340
The spores are extremely tiny, little,
318
00:19:26,340 --> 00:19:29,483
lightweight gene carrying systems.
319
00:19:30,690 --> 00:19:33,480
When they land on something they can eat,
320
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,860
they break down the food that they're on,
321
00:19:35,860 --> 00:19:38,360
and then reabsorb the nutrients,
322
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:40,110
because you need to move on and find
323
00:19:40,110 --> 00:19:42,563
another place where there's food.
324
00:19:46,530 --> 00:19:50,760
The mushroom releases zillions of spores
325
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:52,990
into the atmosphere.
326
00:19:52,990 --> 00:19:56,993
There's so many spore, I
mean, you take one breath,
327
00:19:58,330 --> 00:20:00,990
you just breathed in 10 fungal spore.
328
00:20:00,990 --> 00:20:02,930
So they are everywhere.
329
00:20:02,930 --> 00:20:04,293
We evolved with them.
330
00:20:06,410 --> 00:20:08,570
- When you see what mushrooms do,
331
00:20:08,570 --> 00:20:11,890
it's kind of spooky in
the most wonderful way,
332
00:20:11,890 --> 00:20:14,260
I mean they correct everything on Earth.
333
00:20:14,260 --> 00:20:15,320
They support life.
334
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:16,460
They convert life.
335
00:20:16,460 --> 00:20:18,380
They carry life.
336
00:20:18,380 --> 00:20:19,893
They're remarkable beings.
337
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:24,970
If humans become extinct,
338
00:20:24,970 --> 00:20:27,670
what's the next species that
will take over the Earth?
339
00:20:28,900 --> 00:20:32,270
Maybe mycelium already
are the dominant species,
340
00:20:32,270 --> 00:20:33,970
not just because they're the most common
341
00:20:33,970 --> 00:20:36,610
species on Earth, they're everywhere.
342
00:20:36,610 --> 00:20:37,570
I mean, you look at humans.
343
00:20:37,570 --> 00:20:38,610
There's seven billion of us
344
00:20:38,610 --> 00:20:39,970
but we're just one little creature
345
00:20:39,970 --> 00:20:41,710
wandering around incredibly vulnerable
346
00:20:41,710 --> 00:20:44,683
and don't survive easily
if we're assaulted.
347
00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,640
Hurricane Harvey
has started to make landfall
348
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,560
here on the Texas coast.
349
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,300
More than 30,000 people are without power
350
00:20:53,300 --> 00:20:55,460
And things are only expected to get worst.
351
00:20:55,460 --> 00:20:57,810
- Granted we've always had the worst storm
352
00:20:57,810 --> 00:21:01,510
in about a century, and it
is struggling to understand
353
00:21:01,510 --> 00:21:04,473
the new normal of months
ahead without basic services.
354
00:21:05,470 --> 00:21:08,040
Climate change is
one of the biggest threats
355
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,740
to our present our world,
to the future of our planet.
356
00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:20,493
- C02 is our biggest greenhouse gas.
357
00:21:21,370 --> 00:21:23,450
As plants photosynthesize,
358
00:21:23,450 --> 00:21:27,403
they literally inhale CO2
while exhaling oxygen.
359
00:21:32,790 --> 00:21:35,177
CO2 is what plants photosynthesize
360
00:21:35,177 --> 00:21:36,910
and they take that carbon
361
00:21:36,910 --> 00:21:38,330
and they put it in different places,
362
00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:40,170
they put it in their
leaves, in their trunks,
363
00:21:40,170 --> 00:21:43,909
but they put 70 % of it, we
are finding, below ground.
364
00:21:49,980 --> 00:21:53,860
And the root systems trade
that carbon for nutrients.
365
00:21:53,860 --> 00:21:56,640
That carbon ends up in
the fungal cell walls
366
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:57,823
where it's stored.
367
00:22:04,470 --> 00:22:07,000
This fuels the microbial community
368
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,740
and all the other parts of the food web,
369
00:22:08,740 --> 00:22:10,260
like the mites and the nametodes,
370
00:22:10,260 --> 00:22:12,240
and they start cycling nutrients
371
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:13,833
through that eating process.
372
00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:16,810
So the fungi are really important
373
00:22:16,810 --> 00:22:20,200
in stabilizing carbon in soils.
374
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,050
Once the carbon is stable
375
00:22:22,050 --> 00:22:24,793
it can stay there stored
for thousands of years.
376
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,430
We know for example that carbon
377
00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:29,710
can move from plant to plant
378
00:22:29,710 --> 00:22:33,920
and it evens out the distribution
of carbon in that system.
379
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,780
They're working really hard.
380
00:22:35,780 --> 00:22:39,170
If we maintain the plants, the forest,
381
00:22:39,170 --> 00:22:40,670
and the natural fungal community,
382
00:22:40,670 --> 00:22:42,250
we've got a natural engine
383
00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:44,260
that's storing carbon below ground.
384
00:22:44,260 --> 00:22:45,513
So, it's essential.
385
00:22:46,420 --> 00:22:48,110
You know, it's there for us, right?
386
00:22:48,110 --> 00:22:49,879
It's right in front of us.
387
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,423
We do more
than make mushrooms.
388
00:22:57,050 --> 00:22:59,490
We have the ability to do so much more
389
00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:01,273
than just break down matter.
390
00:23:04,350 --> 00:23:06,240
Like the fruit of our labor,
391
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:07,810
most of you have only scratched
392
00:23:07,810 --> 00:23:09,853
the surface of our usefulness.
393
00:23:13,100 --> 00:23:15,453
We are the changers.
394
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,950
- I was 14 or 15 years of age, I believe,
395
00:23:26,950 --> 00:23:29,100
when my brother, John, gave me a book
396
00:23:29,100 --> 00:23:32,380
called "Altered States of Consciousness".
397
00:23:32,380 --> 00:23:34,870
And within that book,
Andy Weil was referenced
398
00:23:34,870 --> 00:23:37,520
on expanding consciousness,
and I got really excited.
399
00:23:40,300 --> 00:23:43,050
I was going to charismatic
christian revival meetings
400
00:23:43,050 --> 00:23:44,810
and seeing people being saved,
401
00:23:44,810 --> 00:23:47,170
but it kind of was cool
from my perspective
402
00:23:47,170 --> 00:23:48,003
that they were achieving
403
00:23:48,003 --> 00:23:49,070
this altered states of consciousness.
404
00:23:49,070 --> 00:23:51,870
So I thought that was part
of all of the same idea here.
405
00:23:52,870 --> 00:23:55,463
I really owe credit to Andrew Weil.
406
00:23:57,700 --> 00:23:59,960
- I think he read one of my early books
407
00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:01,840
in which I wrote about mushroom hunting,
408
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,010
and psychodelic mushrooms
409
00:24:04,010 --> 00:24:06,890
and made some reference to
medicinal mushrooms as well.
410
00:24:06,890 --> 00:24:08,450
- It was like a turning point, you know,
411
00:24:08,450 --> 00:24:10,250
like, I certainly was awakened.
412
00:24:10,250 --> 00:24:13,750
Other people were thinking
about expanding consciousness.
413
00:24:13,750 --> 00:24:16,900
And so I gave this book to
my friend, Ryan Schneider.
414
00:24:16,900 --> 00:24:19,420
So, Ryan took it home,
and a few days later,
415
00:24:19,420 --> 00:24:21,070
I said, "Ryan, where is my book?"
416
00:24:21,070 --> 00:24:23,313
He told me his dad had burned it.
417
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,460
I said, "He burned my book?"
418
00:24:28,460 --> 00:24:31,430
Rather than giving it back
to me or calling my parents,
419
00:24:31,430 --> 00:24:34,063
he actually took the
initiative to burn this book.
420
00:24:36,670 --> 00:24:41,050
I owe Ryan Schneider's father
a deep debt of gratitude,
421
00:24:41,050 --> 00:24:46,050
because that single act
galvanized my interest.
422
00:24:46,070 --> 00:24:48,247
Saying, "If this is so
powerful to cause a person
423
00:24:48,247 --> 00:24:50,377
"to do such a bizarre act,
424
00:24:50,377 --> 00:24:54,198
"then I should examine what
this subject is all about."
425
00:24:57,870 --> 00:25:00,120
- Human existence on this Earth
426
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:04,310
goes back an extraordinary
long period of time,
427
00:25:04,310 --> 00:25:09,150
most of which we have no
identifiable information.
428
00:25:09,150 --> 00:25:11,180
It's entirely plausible,
429
00:25:11,180 --> 00:25:13,740
given that the indigenous
people all around the world
430
00:25:13,740 --> 00:25:16,020
know intimately all the plant life,
431
00:25:16,020 --> 00:25:18,760
and will know the different
combination of plant life,
432
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,180
that our prehistoric ancestors,
433
00:25:21,180 --> 00:25:25,233
they had come across the plants
that do alter consciousness.
434
00:25:27,090 --> 00:25:29,050
- In about two million years,
435
00:25:29,050 --> 00:25:31,977
the human cortex tripled in size,
436
00:25:31,977 --> 00:25:34,240
and the brain exploded
437
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,333
over a ridiculously short
span of evolutionary time.
438
00:25:39,330 --> 00:25:42,900
Two million years is nothing
when it comes to evolution.
439
00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:44,640
What triggered that?
440
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,140
In the late
1970s, Terrence McKenna
441
00:25:47,140 --> 00:25:48,510
and his brother Dennis McKenna
442
00:25:48,510 --> 00:25:52,820
were the first that proposed
the Stoned Ape hypothesis.
443
00:25:52,820 --> 00:25:55,290
It is known now that 22 primates,
444
00:25:55,290 --> 00:25:58,713
23 including us, consume mushrooms.
445
00:25:59,732 --> 00:26:01,320
And the idea is our ancestors,
446
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,130
they came out of the trees
and went across the Savannah,
447
00:26:03,130 --> 00:26:05,533
would be tracking
animals that are pooping.
448
00:26:07,150 --> 00:26:08,340
Well, in the sub tropics,
449
00:26:08,340 --> 00:26:11,020
the most common mushroom
coming out of those cow patties
450
00:26:11,020 --> 00:26:13,620
is psilocybe cubensis dung,
a potent magic mushroom.
451
00:26:14,660 --> 00:26:15,647
One thing that mushrooms
452
00:26:15,647 --> 00:26:17,870
and other psychedelics do reliably
453
00:26:17,870 --> 00:26:20,313
is they induce synesthesia.
454
00:26:21,740 --> 00:26:23,950
Synesthesia is the perception
455
00:26:23,950 --> 00:26:26,560
of one sensory modality in another.
456
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,074
Hearing colors for
example, or seeing music.
457
00:26:41,660 --> 00:26:44,030
You have these profound experiences
458
00:26:44,030 --> 00:26:47,860
and you have to put
yourself in their place
459
00:26:47,860 --> 00:26:49,460
and imagine what the impact
460
00:26:49,460 --> 00:26:52,513
of such an experience must
have been on an early hominid.
461
00:26:53,790 --> 00:26:55,220
These magic mushrooms open up
462
00:26:55,220 --> 00:26:57,463
the flood gates of
information you receive.
463
00:26:58,790 --> 00:27:01,090
Basically, you can think
of it as a contact fluid
464
00:27:01,090 --> 00:27:03,830
between synapses within the brain.
465
00:27:03,830 --> 00:27:05,920
Wow, what a competitive advantage.
466
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,320
Especially if you're
working with the geometry
467
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,530
of weapons or having to
put together something
468
00:27:09,530 --> 00:27:11,880
that will give you a
better chance of survival.
469
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,970
The fact that this happened
not once, not twice,
470
00:27:16,970 --> 00:27:20,590
but millions and millions of
times over millions of years,
471
00:27:20,590 --> 00:27:23,030
is a very plausible explanation
472
00:27:23,030 --> 00:27:26,430
for the tripling of the
brain two million years ago.
473
00:27:26,430 --> 00:27:27,980
- It's not so simple to say
474
00:27:27,980 --> 00:27:30,070
that they ate psilocybin mushrooms
475
00:27:30,070 --> 00:27:31,700
and suddenly the brain mutated.
476
00:27:31,700 --> 00:27:33,620
I think it's more complex than that.
477
00:27:33,620 --> 00:27:35,183
But I think it was a factor.
478
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,050
It was like a software to program
479
00:27:39,050 --> 00:27:41,700
this neurologically modern hardware,
480
00:27:41,700 --> 00:27:46,300
to think, to have
cognition, to have language,
481
00:27:46,300 --> 00:27:48,830
because language is
essentially synesthesia.
482
00:27:48,830 --> 00:27:50,530
Language is just association
483
00:27:50,530 --> 00:27:52,710
with inherently meaningless sound,
484
00:27:52,710 --> 00:27:56,013
except that it's associated
with a complex of meaning.
485
00:27:57,050 --> 00:28:00,610
A great deal of the brain's
real estate, you might say,
486
00:28:00,610 --> 00:28:02,730
is devoted to the generation
487
00:28:02,730 --> 00:28:05,590
and/or the comprehension of language.
488
00:28:05,590 --> 00:28:09,110
Those neural structures are
not found in our ancestors.
489
00:28:09,110 --> 00:28:10,360
That's a human trait,
490
00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:12,980
to have so much physiology devoted
491
00:28:12,980 --> 00:28:15,183
to generating and understanding language.
492
00:28:15,183 --> 00:28:18,310
And that's a reflection
of evolutionary events
493
00:28:18,310 --> 00:28:20,053
that made us what we are.
494
00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:28,370
- I couldn't get these
mushrooms for the longest time.
495
00:28:28,370 --> 00:28:31,000
When I was in Ohio I actually purchased
496
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,120
a bag of magic mushrooms.
497
00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:36,190
But I had no guide, I
had no recommendations
498
00:28:36,190 --> 00:28:38,210
for how much to consume.
499
00:28:38,210 --> 00:28:39,810
So I had a bag about this big,
500
00:28:39,810 --> 00:28:43,000
so I thought well that's
probably one dose,
501
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:44,563
so I consumed the bag.
502
00:28:45,430 --> 00:28:46,523
Now for those of you who don't know,
503
00:28:46,523 --> 00:28:48,450
this is like 10 times more
504
00:28:48,450 --> 00:28:50,423
than you probably need to consume.
505
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:53,270
It was a warm summer day,
506
00:28:53,270 --> 00:28:58,010
and there was a beautiful
big, big tree, an oak tree.
507
00:28:58,010 --> 00:29:00,880
And then I noticed black
clouds on the horizon
508
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,210
and I realized there was a storm coming,
509
00:29:03,210 --> 00:29:04,413
and I thought, "This is great,
510
00:29:04,413 --> 00:29:06,200
"I will have this great
visual of the storm coming."
511
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:07,577
And I thought, "Well, I am going to climb
512
00:29:07,577 --> 00:29:08,410
"to the top of the tree."
513
00:29:08,410 --> 00:29:10,180
So I'm starting to feel the effects.
514
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,350
I am getting waves where the air
515
00:29:20,350 --> 00:29:23,778
becomes a liquid. And woosh,
516
00:29:23,778 --> 00:29:25,390
you have this distortion field
517
00:29:25,390 --> 00:29:27,589
go through the visual landscape.
518
00:29:27,589 --> 00:29:29,800
I've never seen that before.
519
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,107
I went, "Oh wow, this is what
they were talking about."
520
00:29:33,107 --> 00:29:35,890
And I see the boiling
clouds are coming closer,
521
00:29:35,890 --> 00:29:37,900
but they're looking angry now.
522
00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:41,092
And then the lightning strikes would go.
523
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,330
And then all these geometrical fractals
524
00:29:45,330 --> 00:29:47,660
would emanate out of
the lightning strikes.
525
00:29:47,660 --> 00:29:50,010
And pretty soon I had
these overlying mosaics
526
00:29:50,010 --> 00:29:53,170
of mathematical patterns
and geometric figures
527
00:29:53,170 --> 00:29:55,410
of multiple colors that are swimming
528
00:29:55,410 --> 00:29:56,590
in this field of vision
529
00:29:56,590 --> 00:29:58,920
that these waves were flying through.
530
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,496
I've never in my life seen
anything like that before.
531
00:30:03,733 --> 00:30:05,900
The winds increasing,
then the rains would come
532
00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:08,150
and I became extremely scared.
533
00:30:08,150 --> 00:30:10,540
And then also I realized
I am at the top of a hill,
534
00:30:10,540 --> 00:30:12,820
during a lightning storm,
in the tallest tree,
535
00:30:12,820 --> 00:30:14,240
not the best place to be
536
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,490
when you're gonna choose
a spiritual experience.
537
00:30:16,490 --> 00:30:18,977
And so, I held on to
the tree for dear life.
538
00:30:18,977 --> 00:30:21,887
And that tree was my pillar
back into the core of the Earth.
539
00:30:21,887 --> 00:30:24,973
And I felt secure as long
as I held on to the tree.
540
00:30:25,940 --> 00:30:28,260
Lightning strikes all
around, thunder claps.
541
00:30:28,260 --> 00:30:29,557
You know, one second
between a lightning strike
542
00:30:29,557 --> 00:30:30,450
and a thunder clap,
543
00:30:30,450 --> 00:30:32,049
you knew it was coming closer and closer.
544
00:30:33,610 --> 00:30:36,113
I was terrified that I wouldn't survive.
545
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,510
And through this terrorific experience,
546
00:30:40,510 --> 00:30:42,530
terrifying and terrific at the same time,
547
00:30:42,530 --> 00:30:43,777
I am up in this tree and I'm saying,
548
00:30:43,777 --> 00:30:45,864
"What should I focus on?"
549
00:30:45,864 --> 00:30:47,787
And I said, "Well, Stamet's,
you know, you're not stupid,
550
00:30:47,787 --> 00:30:49,417
"but you stutter all the time."
551
00:30:50,420 --> 00:30:53,377
And so I thought, "I
need to stop stuttering."
552
00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:56,837
And so I said to myself, "Stop stuttering.
553
00:30:56,837 --> 00:30:59,700
"Stop stuttering now."
554
00:30:59,700 --> 00:31:02,457
A little inner voice in
my head, "Can you hear me?
555
00:31:02,457 --> 00:31:04,210
"Stop stuttering now."
556
00:31:04,210 --> 00:31:06,517
And then I started saying
that, "Stop stuttering now."
557
00:31:06,517 --> 00:31:07,430
"Stop stuttering now."
558
00:31:07,430 --> 00:31:09,843
Hundreds, hundreds,
hundreds, thousands of times.
559
00:31:15,550 --> 00:31:18,620
After the storm had passed,
I came down from the tree,
560
00:31:18,620 --> 00:31:20,860
drenched, soaked to the bone,
561
00:31:20,860 --> 00:31:24,100
you know, in love with life, with nature,
562
00:31:24,100 --> 00:31:25,130
in love with that tree.
563
00:31:25,130 --> 00:31:27,450
That tree was so important to me.
564
00:31:27,450 --> 00:31:31,800
And I went home and I went
to bed, I didn't see anybody.
565
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:33,440
And the next morning I woke up
566
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,820
and there was a really attractive
lady that I liked a lot,
567
00:31:37,820 --> 00:31:39,720
but I could never stare at her in the eyes
568
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:42,000
because I was afraid to
stutter and embarrass myself.
569
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,950
So better to avoid social
contact than have social contact,
570
00:31:44,950 --> 00:31:47,030
even though I was really attracted to her.
571
00:31:47,030 --> 00:31:48,760
And she liked me, but I was,
572
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:50,910
didn't know what to do with
it, with that attention.
573
00:31:50,910 --> 00:31:52,640
And so she was walking past me
574
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,270
and she looked at me and she
said, "Good morning, Paul."
575
00:31:55,270 --> 00:31:56,390
And for the first time,
576
00:31:56,390 --> 00:31:58,547
I looked her straight
in the eye and I said,
577
00:31:58,547 --> 00:32:00,440
"Good Morning, how are you?"
578
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,195
And I stopped stuttering in one session.
579
00:32:13,353 --> 00:32:14,654
♪ The old scrounge rapping hard ♪
580
00:32:24,783 --> 00:32:27,680
This is the newest thing my
employees are listening to.
581
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,760
So my employees are the
best source of new music.
582
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,910
We love loud music for the
mushrooms in the laboratories.
583
00:32:33,910 --> 00:32:37,729
It causes everyone to be synchronized.
584
00:32:37,729 --> 00:32:40,208
We have a lot of nonverbal
communication in laboratories.
585
00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:43,130
You know, when we talk,
your mouth spreads bacteria.
586
00:32:43,130 --> 00:32:44,800
So we try to minimize talking.
587
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,740
So a lot of it is done
by gestures and knowing.
588
00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:49,273
So why not have loud music?
589
00:32:52,660 --> 00:32:53,970
My dad was a businessman.
590
00:32:53,970 --> 00:32:56,100
I swore I'd never become one,
591
00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:58,110
but I wanted to be independent
592
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,970
so I created a little mail order business
593
00:33:00,970 --> 00:33:02,760
in order to supply myself and other people
594
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:04,560
who had like interests in mushrooms.
595
00:33:06,150 --> 00:33:07,580
When we started the business,
596
00:33:07,580 --> 00:33:09,487
it was extremely difficult back then,
597
00:33:09,487 --> 00:33:11,540
and we didn't have the resources.
598
00:33:11,540 --> 00:33:12,810
We were putting little advertisements
599
00:33:12,810 --> 00:33:14,830
in Organic Gardening Magazine,
600
00:33:14,830 --> 00:33:17,353
back when there was only
three television stations.
601
00:33:19,790 --> 00:33:20,980
I invented this business
602
00:33:20,980 --> 00:33:23,903
so I could buy equipment
for my laboratory wholesale.
603
00:33:28,420 --> 00:33:31,130
Amazing to me, we have
nearly 100 employees,
604
00:33:31,130 --> 00:33:33,403
and thousands of media outlets.
605
00:33:35,510 --> 00:33:37,790
These mushrooms were so powerful to me
606
00:33:37,790 --> 00:33:39,990
that I realized that I
wanted to study them.
607
00:33:40,910 --> 00:33:43,880
This mushroom is known reishi or lingzhi,
608
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,000
the mushroom of immortality.
609
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,830
And it's one of the most
amazing and interesting
610
00:33:48,830 --> 00:33:50,430
mushrooms that we've ever grown.
611
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,470
This mushroom helps the immunity
612
00:33:53,470 --> 00:33:55,855
of not only people but bees.
613
00:34:08,740 --> 00:34:12,000
Up this hill here we have a
quarter section of property,
614
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:17,000
160 acres, and we have a
large micrological experiment.
615
00:34:17,260 --> 00:34:21,107
We planted 33,000 trees,
half with mycorrhizal fungi
616
00:34:21,107 --> 00:34:22,490
tapped to the roots, half without.
617
00:34:22,490 --> 00:34:25,240
And this is year nine.
618
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:27,740
So we are putting into
an Excel spreadsheet
619
00:34:27,740 --> 00:34:32,740
or have put in 1,000 trees
to compare the treatments.
620
00:34:32,750 --> 00:34:37,040
I came into from
licensing one of my patents.
621
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:39,770
And so when the political
climates in the United States
622
00:34:39,770 --> 00:34:42,560
changed to be adverse
to environmentalists,
623
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:43,810
we bought land in Canada.
624
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,260
- I think the fact that he didn't come up
625
00:34:49,260 --> 00:34:51,180
on a conventional academic pathway
626
00:34:51,180 --> 00:34:52,600
is part of the reason he's as willing
627
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,793
to really explore ideas that
are not on anyone else's radar.
628
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,100
- I'm really honored that I discovered
629
00:35:01,100 --> 00:35:03,530
a few things that no one
else had yet discovered
630
00:35:03,530 --> 00:35:07,540
so I have now five patents
on entomopathogenic fungi.
631
00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:10,100
These are fungi that infect insects
632
00:35:10,100 --> 00:35:12,560
and, in particular, termites.
633
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,640
The biggest problem in
the commercialization
634
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,950
of bio-pesticides from fungi
635
00:35:16,950 --> 00:35:19,270
has been the spore repellency property.
636
00:35:19,270 --> 00:35:21,800
The insects avoid the
spores of these fungi.
637
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,370
In fact, so concerned are termites
638
00:35:23,370 --> 00:35:25,750
that if a worker goes out
and encounters this fungus,
639
00:35:25,750 --> 00:35:27,920
when the worker returns back to the nest,
640
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,920
guards, they'll capture that worker
641
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:31,520
that's infected with these spores,
642
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,670
take the worker to a graveyard
643
00:35:33,670 --> 00:35:36,200
and they cut off the worker's head
644
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,330
and then the two guards commit suicide.
645
00:35:38,330 --> 00:35:39,590
They're trying to protect the queen
646
00:35:39,590 --> 00:35:42,050
and the nest and colony from infection.
647
00:35:42,050 --> 00:35:44,790
And I discovered
something that no one else
648
00:35:44,790 --> 00:35:46,960
had ever reported in the
scientific literature.
649
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,980
I found a biological switch
that delayed sporulation,
650
00:35:49,980 --> 00:35:52,810
and then the insects were not repelled,
651
00:35:52,810 --> 00:35:54,940
but they were super-attracted.
652
00:35:54,940 --> 00:35:58,220
Which means one finds the fungus
now and the others follow,
653
00:35:58,220 --> 00:36:00,040
and it ends up being a Trojan Horse.
654
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,110
The same fungi now are
taken past the guards,
655
00:36:03,110 --> 00:36:04,040
given to the queen,
656
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:05,760
the queen feeds it to the brood,
657
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,810
the whole colony becomes like mummified
658
00:36:07,810 --> 00:36:10,310
with this mycelium and whoosh,
659
00:36:10,310 --> 00:36:13,890
the whole colony is infected and dies.
660
00:36:13,890 --> 00:36:16,070
And then the spore repellency properties
661
00:36:16,070 --> 00:36:18,450
protects your house from
subsequent invasions.
662
00:36:18,450 --> 00:36:20,840
This is a huge discovery.
663
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,810
And then I tried it with carpenter ants,
664
00:36:22,810 --> 00:36:25,990
with fire ants, fungus
gnats and then mosquitoes.
665
00:36:25,990 --> 00:36:27,860
Now we're working with bed bugs
666
00:36:27,860 --> 00:36:30,513
and we've had successes across the board.
667
00:36:36,318 --> 00:36:40,570
The entire ecosystem
is infused with fungi.
668
00:36:40,570 --> 00:36:44,623
So I see these deep reservoirs
of the ecology all around us.
669
00:36:52,830 --> 00:36:54,880
In a world of invention,
670
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,990
the answer to our greatest problems
671
00:36:56,990 --> 00:37:00,123
may be hiding right under our feet.
672
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,120
- There are mushrooms that have been used
673
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:05,810
in Western medicine.
674
00:37:05,810 --> 00:37:09,863
Penicillin for example is a
really effective antibiotic.
675
00:37:11,090 --> 00:37:13,500
Before it was synthesized,
during the Civil War,
676
00:37:13,500 --> 00:37:15,970
when a solider would get wounded,
677
00:37:15,970 --> 00:37:17,820
they would slap a piece of moldy bread
678
00:37:17,820 --> 00:37:22,560
on his wound to benefit from
those antibiotic properties.
679
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:24,660
You know, so he wouldn't get an infection.
680
00:37:26,350 --> 00:37:30,170
Alexander Fleming
discovered Penicillin in 1927.
681
00:37:30,170 --> 00:37:32,520
The problem was that they
couldn't find strains
682
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:33,890
that could be commercialized,
683
00:37:33,890 --> 00:37:35,090
that could produce enough of it
684
00:37:35,090 --> 00:37:37,083
in a commercially economic fashion.
685
00:37:38,460 --> 00:37:42,550
We fast forward and in
1942 a group of researchers
686
00:37:42,550 --> 00:37:44,550
in Chicago went shopping.
687
00:37:44,550 --> 00:37:46,690
And a lab assistant found a cantaloupe
688
00:37:46,690 --> 00:37:49,173
that was rotting with a
beautiful golden mold,
689
00:37:51,500 --> 00:37:53,260
and from that strain
690
00:37:53,260 --> 00:37:56,423
we got the first hyper
producing strain of penicillium.
691
00:37:59,020 --> 00:38:01,720
Penicillin literally
saved tens of thousands
692
00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:03,610
of soldiers lives.
693
00:38:03,610 --> 00:38:05,900
The Brits had this but the Germans
694
00:38:05,900 --> 00:38:07,150
and the Japanese did not.
695
00:38:09,660 --> 00:38:11,800
It has been suggested that the discovery
696
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:13,740
of this hyper-producing
strain of penicillin
697
00:38:13,740 --> 00:38:16,770
was a significant influence
in winning World War II.
698
00:38:16,770 --> 00:38:20,350
Alexander Fleming then received
the Nobel Prize in 1945
699
00:38:20,350 --> 00:38:23,020
in recognition of the huge impact
700
00:38:23,020 --> 00:38:25,023
that penicillin had on human health.
701
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:34,850
Here's how medicinal mushrooms
702
00:38:34,850 --> 00:38:35,993
are thought to work.
703
00:38:37,170 --> 00:38:41,010
A fungus will produce
all kinds of enzymes,
704
00:38:41,010 --> 00:38:42,590
it's like a chemical warfare,
705
00:38:42,590 --> 00:38:46,060
in order to fight off
competition for food,
706
00:38:46,060 --> 00:38:51,060
like, other microbes, other
fungi, bacteria, virus.
707
00:38:51,740 --> 00:38:53,803
That's what makes antibiotics work.
708
00:38:54,890 --> 00:38:57,580
Chemicals that are produced by fungus,
709
00:38:57,580 --> 00:39:00,300
like the one that penicillin is made from,
710
00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:01,510
the fungus produces it
711
00:39:01,510 --> 00:39:04,150
to kill bacteria that are competition.
712
00:39:04,150 --> 00:39:07,433
And, when we take penicillin,
it kills our bacteria.
713
00:39:08,950 --> 00:39:10,950
There's a long
tradition of using mushrooms
714
00:39:10,950 --> 00:39:13,960
as medicines in East
Asia, especially in Korea,
715
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:15,850
China and Japan.
716
00:39:15,850 --> 00:39:19,220
They appear to be able
to enhance and protect
717
00:39:19,220 --> 00:39:22,480
the body's innate defensive mechanisms.
718
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:25,280
The uses for them filled niches for which
719
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,110
we really don't have anything
in Western pharmacology.
720
00:39:28,110 --> 00:39:30,150
In Western medicine, all of our effort
721
00:39:30,150 --> 00:39:34,040
is on identifying agents of
disease and eliminating them.
722
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,410
That has its place but
we do almost nothing
723
00:39:36,410 --> 00:39:37,710
about supporting the good.
724
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,390
Shamans would treat patients
725
00:39:45,390 --> 00:39:47,160
and the diseases were thought to be
726
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:48,883
elements of the spirit world.
727
00:39:49,900 --> 00:39:52,610
Well, physicians today treat infections
728
00:39:52,610 --> 00:39:54,850
and their spirits are bacteria
729
00:39:54,850 --> 00:39:57,460
that are pathogenic, or are viruses.
730
00:39:57,460 --> 00:39:59,820
So whether the shamans called them spirits
731
00:39:59,820 --> 00:40:02,750
or whether the scientists
called them microbes,
732
00:40:02,750 --> 00:40:04,660
with the invention of microscopes,
733
00:40:04,660 --> 00:40:07,890
we get to see the microscopic
universe and landscape
734
00:40:07,890 --> 00:40:11,410
that we thunder upon with every footstep.
735
00:40:11,410 --> 00:40:13,840
The fact that these fungal networks
736
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,100
are seemingly invisible
737
00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:16,820
but then represent themselves in a big,
738
00:40:16,820 --> 00:40:19,290
flourishing mushroom in
a matter of a few days,
739
00:40:19,290 --> 00:40:22,530
give us a window into
the invisible landscape
740
00:40:22,530 --> 00:40:23,966
underneath our feet.
741
00:40:40,350 --> 00:40:42,160
Fungal networks have defended themselves
742
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,310
against vectors of disease
for millions of years.
743
00:40:45,310 --> 00:40:48,013
Viral pandemics occur periodically.
744
00:40:48,860 --> 00:40:53,510
Between 1347 and 1353, one third
745
00:40:53,510 --> 00:40:56,483
of the European population
died from the Black Plague.
746
00:40:58,210 --> 00:41:01,132
The great flu pandemic of 1918,
747
00:41:01,132 --> 00:41:03,340
2 % of the world population died.
748
00:41:03,340 --> 00:41:04,990
Millions upon millions of people.
749
00:41:07,250 --> 00:41:08,620
I think everyone is aware
750
00:41:08,620 --> 00:41:11,080
of the threat potentially
of bio-terrorism.
751
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:13,700
But few people may know that Europeans
752
00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:16,810
were actively involved,
consciously or unconsciously,
753
00:41:16,810 --> 00:41:19,140
in bio-terrorism against
indigenous peoples
754
00:41:19,140 --> 00:41:22,460
especially in The New
World, in Meso-America.
755
00:41:22,460 --> 00:41:24,120
They brought in diseases.
756
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,550
And when you are extremely sick,
757
00:41:25,550 --> 00:41:27,593
you can't fight off an invader.
758
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,960
It's an irony of history
that now the U.S. government
759
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,910
is interested in protecting
people from viral pandemics.
760
00:41:35,910 --> 00:41:38,730
Paul Stamets cultured
numerous strains in his lab
761
00:41:38,730 --> 00:41:40,830
in prepared natural extracts.
762
00:41:40,830 --> 00:41:43,490
He then submitted samples
to the Defense Department's
763
00:41:43,490 --> 00:41:45,940
Bioshield Program for testing.
764
00:41:45,940 --> 00:41:48,830
- And Ironically, I owe a debt
of gratitude to Dick Cheney,
765
00:41:48,830 --> 00:41:50,970
and George W. Bush.
766
00:41:50,970 --> 00:41:52,670
- It is vital that our nation discuss
767
00:41:52,670 --> 00:41:56,000
and address the threat
of pandemic flu now.
768
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,750
- Their funding of that research led
769
00:41:57,750 --> 00:41:59,370
to some very novel discoveries
770
00:41:59,370 --> 00:42:01,170
which we're still elaborating today.
771
00:42:02,940 --> 00:42:04,550
What we know about these mycelial networks
772
00:42:04,550 --> 00:42:06,630
is they're learning membranes.
773
00:42:06,630 --> 00:42:09,780
They are self-learning and
network-based organisms
774
00:42:09,780 --> 00:42:12,440
that can share and store knowledge.
775
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,890
The mycelium is vaccinating itself
776
00:42:14,890 --> 00:42:17,240
against pathogens in the ecosystem.
777
00:42:17,240 --> 00:42:18,730
We can capitalize on this,
778
00:42:18,730 --> 00:42:21,100
because many of the
same bacterial pathogens
779
00:42:21,100 --> 00:42:24,690
that infect fungi also can infect animals.
780
00:42:24,690 --> 00:42:28,580
We found novel molecules, highly
active against pox viruses,
781
00:42:28,580 --> 00:42:31,060
novel molecules highly active against HPV,
782
00:42:31,060 --> 00:42:32,453
the human papilloma virus.
783
00:42:33,570 --> 00:42:35,930
Many scientists are trying to come up
784
00:42:35,930 --> 00:42:39,170
with the next antibiotic,
the next penicillin.
785
00:42:39,170 --> 00:42:41,490
But we have barely tapped
into the fungal genome,
786
00:42:41,490 --> 00:42:43,943
especially of the mushroom growing fungi.
787
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,290
Think of it, our old growth forest
788
00:42:48,290 --> 00:42:51,830
that contain these ancient
fungi are deep reservoirs
789
00:42:51,830 --> 00:42:55,150
of potential compounds that
can fight pandemic viruses.
790
00:42:55,150 --> 00:42:57,040
We should save the old growth forests
791
00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:59,524
as a matter of national defense.
792
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:11,580
- I recommend mushrooms
and mushroom products
793
00:43:11,580 --> 00:43:13,950
frequently to patients
and I teach other doctors
794
00:43:13,950 --> 00:43:15,143
about their uses.
795
00:43:16,060 --> 00:43:19,600
Mushrooms have molecules not
found elsewhere in nature.
796
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,070
There's some that have
totally unusual properties
797
00:43:22,070 --> 00:43:23,933
like Lion's Mane mushroom.
798
00:43:25,490 --> 00:43:27,920
The Lion's Mane
mushroom is a globular
799
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,300
cascading icicle formed mushroom,
800
00:43:30,300 --> 00:43:32,330
tastes like lobster or
shrimp when you cook it.
801
00:43:32,330 --> 00:43:35,470
But a researcher in Japan
by the name of Kawagishi
802
00:43:35,470 --> 00:43:38,100
discovered it around 1993.
803
00:43:38,100 --> 00:43:40,890
And I don't have the foggiest
idea how he discovered this,
804
00:43:40,890 --> 00:43:42,950
but he discovered that this mushroom
805
00:43:42,950 --> 00:43:45,730
stimulates nerves to re-grow.
806
00:43:45,730 --> 00:43:47,280
And he postulated it could be
807
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:49,543
an effective treatment
against Alzheimer's.
808
00:43:50,870 --> 00:43:52,470
- Since we don't have
anything for Alzheimer's
809
00:43:52,470 --> 00:43:55,920
and since this is non-toxic,
we should test it.
810
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,080
Mushrooms are completely unusual organisms
811
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,230
and they're ignored by so many people
812
00:44:00,230 --> 00:44:04,995
and yet they're a vital interface
between all forms of life.
813
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:13,650
- At the University of Southern Florida,
814
00:44:13,650 --> 00:44:16,160
a very interesting study came out.
815
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:18,600
Mice were trained to have a
conditioned fear response,
816
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:21,470
and so when there's a sound
that is associated with pain,
817
00:44:21,470 --> 00:44:25,058
later on when they heard the
sound they cowered in fear.
818
00:44:27,013 --> 00:44:28,920
But they treated the mice with psilocybin,
819
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,080
the compound in magic mushrooms,
820
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:33,510
the mice disassociated that link.
821
00:44:33,510 --> 00:44:36,573
The mice overcame that
fear condition response.
822
00:44:37,530 --> 00:44:38,840
- We started with very low doses
823
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,140
to as high a dose as one
milligram per kilogram.
824
00:44:41,140 --> 00:44:43,300
Now what was interesting,
825
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:45,320
if you look at double labeled cells,
826
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:46,800
in other words the birth of new neurons,
827
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:50,630
we saw an increase in neurogenesis.
828
00:44:50,630 --> 00:44:53,390
- Neurogenesis literally
means neuro for nerves,
829
00:44:53,390 --> 00:44:56,400
and genesis, rebirth or beginning of.
830
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,223
The re-growing of neurons.
831
00:45:01,090 --> 00:45:03,620
They were not using the
same neurological pathways
832
00:45:03,620 --> 00:45:05,050
they have in the past.
833
00:45:05,050 --> 00:45:07,780
This is really exciting
because it means that
834
00:45:07,780 --> 00:45:10,630
the brain has a plasticity about it,
835
00:45:10,630 --> 00:45:13,010
it's able to heal, it's able to grow,
836
00:45:13,010 --> 00:45:14,910
it just needs the right compounds
837
00:45:14,910 --> 00:45:18,133
to help it develop new
neurological pathways.
838
00:45:19,390 --> 00:45:20,680
We're all getting older,
839
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,504
we'll all suffer some degree of dementia.
840
00:45:27,910 --> 00:45:29,770
What compounds can we take
841
00:45:29,770 --> 00:45:32,393
that enhances and preserves neurogenesis?
842
00:45:37,070 --> 00:45:39,830
I know many many people who would not dare
843
00:45:39,830 --> 00:45:41,680
take a psilocybin mushroom trip.
844
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:45,420
But the concept of them
taking 1/50th of a dose,
845
00:45:45,420 --> 00:45:47,236
something like that,
846
00:45:47,236 --> 00:45:49,610
and it causes neurogenesis and
it might make them smarter,
847
00:45:49,610 --> 00:45:51,360
or in a better mood or happier?
848
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:53,183
That's a whole different subject.
849
00:45:57,460 --> 00:46:00,360
We are on a never
ending search for partners.
850
00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,693
Life affirming relationships.
851
00:46:07,630 --> 00:46:09,550
Or, at the very least,
852
00:46:09,550 --> 00:46:11,843
nourishment for the
next leg of our journey.
853
00:46:13,940 --> 00:46:17,193
We have flourished side
by side with your species,
854
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,403
symbiotically, for centuries.
855
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:28,390
- Many shamanic cultures
relied on mushrooms
856
00:46:28,390 --> 00:46:31,240
for their transcendental experiences.
857
00:46:31,240 --> 00:46:34,693
This is pre-religion, all over the world.
858
00:46:35,850 --> 00:46:38,070
It was all about the
individual's connection
859
00:46:38,070 --> 00:46:39,750
to the spiritual world
860
00:46:39,750 --> 00:46:43,563
or the mystery that is
our context for living.
861
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:50,170
- These are ancient artifacts
from the Mayan culture.
862
00:46:50,170 --> 00:46:52,450
These are called mushroom stones.
863
00:46:52,450 --> 00:46:54,110
This may be the largest collection
864
00:46:54,110 --> 00:46:55,940
of mushroom stones in the world.
865
00:46:55,940 --> 00:46:58,660
The Mayan culture was very mycophilic,
866
00:46:58,660 --> 00:47:02,000
and they revered mushroom
stones for divination,
867
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,610
for spirituality, also
to be able to predict
868
00:47:05,610 --> 00:47:09,002
incoming armies and how to
strategize against them.
869
00:47:17,810 --> 00:47:22,260
A great ethnomycologist by
the name of R. Gordon Wasson
870
00:47:22,260 --> 00:47:24,670
came up with the phrase mycophilia,
871
00:47:24,670 --> 00:47:27,200
the love of mushrooms
that the Mayans shared.
872
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,340
Mycophobia was, classically,
873
00:47:29,340 --> 00:47:31,340
the English who had a fear of mushrooms,
874
00:47:31,340 --> 00:47:33,260
because they were enigmatic.
875
00:47:33,260 --> 00:47:35,350
You know, these mushrooms
can get you high,
876
00:47:35,350 --> 00:47:38,090
they can heal you, they can can
feed you, they can kill you.
877
00:47:38,090 --> 00:47:41,520
And so, that which is so
powerful is naturally feared.
878
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:43,890
- Wasson was an amateur mycologist,
879
00:47:43,890 --> 00:47:46,210
a person who studies mushrooms,
880
00:47:46,210 --> 00:47:51,060
and was invited to
participate in a ceremony
881
00:47:51,060 --> 00:47:56,060
by a curandera; Maria Sabina in 1955.
882
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:01,680
He took these mushrooms and
had a psychedelic experience.
883
00:48:04,540 --> 00:48:05,960
- And when R. Gordon Wasson came out
884
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:07,250
with his research that was published
885
00:48:07,250 --> 00:48:09,603
in Life Magazine in 1957,
886
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,090
that was basically a field
guide to psilocybin mushrooms
887
00:48:16,090 --> 00:48:18,950
delivered to tens of millions of Americans
888
00:48:18,950 --> 00:48:22,033
on their doorstep during
the peak of the Cold War.
889
00:48:22,940 --> 00:48:26,340
This, then, was quickly
noticed by academics at Harvard
890
00:48:26,340 --> 00:48:30,670
and other Ivy League schools
and then the cognoscente,
891
00:48:30,670 --> 00:48:33,150
including Timothy Leary,
892
00:48:33,150 --> 00:48:35,943
Ram Dass and Dr. Andrew Weil.
893
00:48:36,980 --> 00:48:39,310
- Why do mushrooms produce molecules
894
00:48:39,310 --> 00:48:42,440
that fit receptors in
the human brain and body?
895
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:43,290
What does that say?
896
00:48:43,290 --> 00:48:44,123
What does that mean?
897
00:48:44,123 --> 00:48:45,400
I mean, does that mean that we're supposed
898
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:46,743
to be using these things?
899
00:48:48,070 --> 00:48:51,270
- Psychedelics during the '50s and '60s
900
00:48:51,270 --> 00:48:53,740
were the cutting edge
of psychiatric research.
901
00:48:53,740 --> 00:48:55,530
There were remarkable studies
902
00:48:55,530 --> 00:48:58,683
with very, very promising findings.
903
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,387
- Psychedelics became part of research
904
00:49:02,387 --> 00:49:04,350
and psychiatry for 30 years,
905
00:49:04,350 --> 00:49:06,960
and there were several very
interesting indications
906
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:08,440
that they were researched.
907
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,150
The best data was actually for alcoholism.
908
00:49:11,150 --> 00:49:13,870
- We found that having
a mystical experience
909
00:49:13,870 --> 00:49:15,540
during the course of one session
910
00:49:15,540 --> 00:49:18,430
was the strongest predictor
of positive outcome
911
00:49:18,430 --> 00:49:20,470
meaning maintaining sobriety
912
00:49:20,470 --> 00:49:23,150
over the long follow-up period.
913
00:49:23,150 --> 00:49:24,763
It was very impressive.
914
00:49:25,980 --> 00:49:27,120
- Some of these drugs, you know,
915
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:30,158
they had escaped the
lab as the phrase goes.
916
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:33,560
Millions of people were using them
917
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:34,980
and you have to realize
918
00:49:34,980 --> 00:49:39,008
that this was a radical
force unleashed on the West.
919
00:49:45,620 --> 00:49:46,990
The kids who take psychedelics
920
00:49:46,990 --> 00:49:48,800
aren't gonna fight your wars.
921
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,180
They're not going to
join your corporations.
922
00:49:51,180 --> 00:49:52,080
They won't buy it.
923
00:49:52,998 --> 00:49:55,870
- A lot was going on back in the '60s.
924
00:49:55,870 --> 00:49:59,360
It was a time of rapid cultural change.
925
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:02,430
There was irrational fears
926
00:50:02,430 --> 00:50:05,930
about too much cultural change too fast.
927
00:50:05,930 --> 00:50:08,620
President Nixon called Timothy Leary
928
00:50:08,620 --> 00:50:11,440
the most dangerous man in America.
929
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:13,180
- We must wage what I have called
930
00:50:13,180 --> 00:50:16,210
total war against public enemy number one
931
00:50:16,210 --> 00:50:19,493
in the United States, the
problem of dangerous drugs.
932
00:50:19,493 --> 00:50:22,050
♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪
933
00:50:22,050 --> 00:50:24,050
- When everyone says shrooms to me,
934
00:50:24,050 --> 00:50:27,470
it invokes this whole idea
to use psilocybin mushrooms
935
00:50:27,470 --> 00:50:28,810
as a party drug.
936
00:50:28,810 --> 00:50:32,193
They are so much more important
than just getting high.
937
00:50:33,973 --> 00:50:36,260
♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪
938
00:50:36,260 --> 00:50:39,290
- The movement to marginalize
939
00:50:39,290 --> 00:50:42,507
the major psychedelics
is incredibly complex.
940
00:50:42,507 --> 00:50:46,410
And it plugged into a
counterculture movement,
941
00:50:46,410 --> 00:50:50,283
an anti-war movement, an
anti-establishment movement.
942
00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:55,960
But there were many, many
forces that were at play.
943
00:51:02,550 --> 00:51:06,880
- Somehow the fuse blew,
and one of the victims was
944
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:09,853
the medical research with psychedelics.
945
00:51:10,820 --> 00:51:15,820
There's a very irrational
and anti-scientific climate
946
00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:18,950
that was fueled even in
government pamphlets,
947
00:51:18,950 --> 00:51:21,600
really had distorted information
948
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,674
that was not scientifically accurate.
949
00:51:24,674 --> 00:51:26,358
- Get away, just get away.
950
00:51:26,358 --> 00:51:28,773
- It's a bad trip, instant insanity.
951
00:51:31,330 --> 00:51:33,713
The research
came to a halt in 1970,
952
00:51:33,713 --> 00:51:35,700
the war was declared on drugs,
953
00:51:35,700 --> 00:51:37,920
the Controlled Substances Act was passed,
954
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:39,920
and the research essentially was erased
955
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:42,033
from being taught in psychiatry.
956
00:51:43,290 --> 00:51:45,700
- I think I may have
the dubious distinction
957
00:51:45,700 --> 00:51:50,560
of being the last to give
psilocybin to a cancer patient
958
00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:53,143
at the Maryland Psychiatric
Research Center.
959
00:51:54,380 --> 00:51:57,143
And then the research
became completely dormant.
960
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:04,960
In our evolution as a species
961
00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:07,140
we're at a point of coming to terms
962
00:52:07,140 --> 00:52:09,683
with a major paradigm change.
963
00:52:11,290 --> 00:52:15,133
A change in how we view
what we call reality.
964
00:52:19,410 --> 00:52:23,343
And that always evokes tension and fears.
965
00:52:25,620 --> 00:52:30,620
The culture wants to cling to
the old view of the universe.
966
00:52:36,550 --> 00:52:39,030
- You realize that you've
been limited all this time
967
00:52:39,030 --> 00:52:41,190
with your perspective of reality.
968
00:52:41,190 --> 00:52:44,260
Had reality been known
to you at this level,
969
00:52:44,260 --> 00:52:47,863
early on, how much more
evolved would we be as beings?
970
00:52:49,700 --> 00:52:51,700
A lot of people would be afraid of that.
971
00:52:55,685 --> 00:52:58,050
This is very dangerous territory.
972
00:52:58,050 --> 00:52:59,560
People wanna give up their responsibility
973
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:01,670
of being able to understand,
974
00:53:01,670 --> 00:53:04,240
and because they can't
understand, then they have faith.
975
00:53:04,240 --> 00:53:05,530
And they put their faith in other people
976
00:53:05,530 --> 00:53:06,930
who say they can understand.
977
00:53:07,894 --> 00:53:10,840
And I think that's a situation
978
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:12,890
that's ripe for a predatory relationship.
979
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:25,200
- Anyone who's had one
of those experiences,
980
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,710
in a country where it's
not legal to have them,
981
00:53:27,710 --> 00:53:29,060
is stuck in this position
982
00:53:29,060 --> 00:53:33,020
where something really
precious and really giving,
983
00:53:33,020 --> 00:53:35,230
a great gift to you,
984
00:53:35,230 --> 00:53:38,110
is not understood by the culture at large
985
00:53:38,110 --> 00:53:40,150
and furthermore puts you or other people,
986
00:53:40,150 --> 00:53:42,713
or and other people,
at risk of prosecution.
987
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,870
And one response to that is to get angry
988
00:53:48,810 --> 00:53:50,227
and to want to fight that.
989
00:53:50,227 --> 00:53:51,990
And another response to it is to say
990
00:53:51,990 --> 00:53:54,783
we just got to explain to
people what's going on here.
991
00:53:55,620 --> 00:53:57,330
And when people understand it
992
00:53:57,330 --> 00:54:00,723
then there will be
accommodation and respect.
993
00:54:02,730 --> 00:54:05,090
There are a number of elders
living in the Bay Area
994
00:54:05,090 --> 00:54:06,930
who've devoted some part of their career
995
00:54:06,930 --> 00:54:09,250
in psychology or religious studies
996
00:54:09,250 --> 00:54:10,700
who ended up being invited
997
00:54:10,700 --> 00:54:14,300
to a small invitational
conference at Esalen
998
00:54:14,300 --> 00:54:17,530
called the Pacific Symposium
on Psychedelic Drugs.
999
00:54:17,530 --> 00:54:19,690
As we went around the
room making introductions,
1000
00:54:19,690 --> 00:54:21,270
most of the people who were clinicians
1001
00:54:21,270 --> 00:54:23,210
were excitedly talking about
1002
00:54:23,210 --> 00:54:25,250
what kind of clinical trial they would run
1003
00:54:25,250 --> 00:54:27,060
if they could use one of these substances
1004
00:54:27,060 --> 00:54:30,093
to treat PTSD or to treat depression.
1005
00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:33,900
- We wrote the best design we could,
1006
00:54:33,900 --> 00:54:38,420
we submitted it to the
FDA, and they approved it.
1007
00:54:38,420 --> 00:54:40,273
This is 1999.
1008
00:54:41,553 --> 00:54:44,280
And it reactivated psychedelic research
1009
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:49,280
after basically a 22-year
dormancy in the United States.
1010
00:54:49,700 --> 00:54:52,100
- It's like a Rip Van Winkle effect.
1011
00:54:52,100 --> 00:54:55,880
You know, it's waking up 20 years later.
1012
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:59,200
The methodologies, the
questions that we can ask,
1013
00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:01,113
on so many different levels.
1014
00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,240
- I have been diagnosed
with prostate cancer.
1015
00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:13,113
My diagnosis was so bad that,
1016
00:55:15,950 --> 00:55:18,603
they weren't giving me
any chance whatsoever.
1017
00:55:19,940 --> 00:55:23,080
- My diagnosis was kidney cancer.
1018
00:55:23,080 --> 00:55:26,660
Finding out that you may wanna get
1019
00:55:26,660 --> 00:55:27,993
your affairs in order.
1020
00:55:29,370 --> 00:55:31,320
- I first found out about this study
1021
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,830
when my oncologist gave me a pamphlet.
1022
00:55:33,830 --> 00:55:36,360
He said here's something that
might be able to help you
1023
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:37,463
with the anxiety.
1024
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:41,310
And I was accepted into the study.
1025
00:55:41,310 --> 00:55:44,070
- The most important thing is to remember
1026
00:55:44,070 --> 00:55:46,850
that you're always safe.
1027
00:55:46,850 --> 00:55:49,720
And our recommendation is that whatever
1028
00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:52,540
is coming up that you allow it,
1029
00:55:52,540 --> 00:55:55,867
that you don't have to like
it, but you say, "Okay,"
1030
00:55:56,830 --> 00:55:59,190
rather than trying to run away from it.
1031
00:55:59,190 --> 00:56:01,900
Once a volunteer is enrolled in the study,
1032
00:56:01,900 --> 00:56:04,230
they're with us for the preparation,
1033
00:56:04,230 --> 00:56:05,590
the psilocybin sessions
1034
00:56:05,590 --> 00:56:08,253
and the integration follow-ups after.
1035
00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:14,180
I have been a guide for
around 350 psilocybin sessions
1036
00:56:14,180 --> 00:56:16,590
and then about 1,000 of the preparatory
1037
00:56:16,590 --> 00:56:18,364
and integration meetings.
1038
00:56:18,364 --> 00:56:20,936
- All right.
- Okay.
1039
00:56:20,936 --> 00:56:22,220
Now get your head up.
1040
00:56:22,220 --> 00:56:24,250
It's really just about experiencing
1041
00:56:24,250 --> 00:56:27,543
what comes up as the
psilocybin takes effect.
1042
00:56:47,830 --> 00:56:49,900
- In the intense part of this journey,
1043
00:56:49,900 --> 00:56:53,170
this world and things that
matter to most people:
1044
00:56:53,170 --> 00:56:55,980
family and all that, that wasn't even
1045
00:56:55,980 --> 00:56:57,570
what it was about.
1046
00:56:57,570 --> 00:57:00,060
They say anything mystical
can't be explained.
1047
00:57:00,060 --> 00:57:01,020
It's something like that.
1048
00:57:01,020 --> 00:57:05,870
It's a feeling of such immense power
1049
00:57:07,140 --> 00:57:08,583
that you can't even imagine.
1050
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:11,680
I've never felt anything like it before.
1051
00:57:14,670 --> 00:57:19,000
It was about being in a
place of infinite space
1052
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:21,693
and just being there.
1053
00:57:27,140 --> 00:57:29,680
- There's a experience of positive mood,
1054
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:32,810
sometimes openheartedness, love.
1055
00:57:32,810 --> 00:57:34,750
Transcendence of time and space,
1056
00:57:34,750 --> 00:57:37,913
and then finally it's
thought to be ineffable.
1057
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:43,831
People say, "I can't
describe that experience."
1058
00:57:48,750 --> 00:57:50,967
- In my mind I said, "Okay, hold it,
1059
00:57:50,967 --> 00:57:53,113
"if I give myself over to you,
1060
00:57:54,137 --> 00:57:57,997
"can you promise me that
I will be in at least
1061
00:57:57,997 --> 00:58:02,627
"as strong a shape as
when I entered this room?"
1062
00:58:03,770 --> 00:58:06,993
And I felt a voice that I needed to heed.
1063
00:58:08,837 --> 00:58:13,837
"Do you think I would
disrespect my own handiwork?"
1064
00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:18,987
This is the voice from on high saying,
1065
00:58:18,987 --> 00:58:22,167
"Do you think I would
disrespect my child?"
1066
00:58:23,210 --> 00:58:25,893
And I felt so beautiful.
1067
00:58:27,850 --> 00:58:30,963
I felt like I have never felt before.
1068
00:58:32,290 --> 00:58:36,660
My sense of being loved, of being worthy,
1069
00:58:36,660 --> 00:58:41,660
of love, of being cared for,
of being important to someone.
1070
00:58:48,460 --> 00:58:49,975
It's huge.
1071
00:58:55,338 --> 00:58:56,701
- Keep going into it.
1072
00:58:56,701 --> 00:58:58,538
Doing beautiful.
1073
00:59:14,350 --> 00:59:17,210
- One third of individuals in this study
1074
00:59:17,210 --> 00:59:19,410
said it's the single most
1075
00:59:19,410 --> 00:59:23,200
spiritually significant
experience of their lives.
1076
00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:27,250
About 70 % say it's among the five
1077
00:59:27,250 --> 00:59:30,640
most personally meaningful
experiences of their lives.
1078
00:59:30,640 --> 00:59:34,653
And you say, well, what
does that mean, you know?
1079
00:59:34,653 --> 00:59:36,860
And initially, I thought,
1080
00:59:36,860 --> 00:59:40,453
I wonder if they don't
have pretty dull lives.
1081
00:59:41,660 --> 00:59:44,517
But no, people would say, you know,
1082
00:59:44,517 --> 00:59:48,137
"When my first born came into this world,
1083
00:59:48,137 --> 00:59:49,907
"I'll never forget that.
1084
00:59:49,907 --> 00:59:52,780
"And life has never been the same since."
1085
00:59:52,780 --> 00:59:56,987
Or, "My father passed away,
that was deeply moving to me,
1086
00:59:56,987 --> 00:59:58,880
"I'm different now in the world."
1087
00:59:58,880 --> 01:00:01,087
They say, you know,
"It's kind of like that."
1088
01:00:04,349 --> 01:00:07,180
- The most glorious part was that
1089
01:00:07,180 --> 01:00:12,150
it made me feel more comfortable
with living, you know?
1090
01:00:12,150 --> 01:00:16,403
Because you're not afraid of dying.
1091
01:00:19,200 --> 01:00:22,300
- Frankly, I'm just a
laboratory scientist,
1092
01:00:22,300 --> 01:00:25,070
and I wasn't prepared for that.
1093
01:00:25,070 --> 01:00:27,750
- From the memory of
the transcendental state
1094
01:00:27,750 --> 01:00:32,100
of consciousness, many
people report less anxiety,
1095
01:00:32,100 --> 01:00:36,790
less depression, less
preoccupation with pain,
1096
01:00:36,790 --> 01:00:39,800
closer interpersonal relationships.
1097
01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:42,960
And perhaps most impressive they claim
1098
01:00:42,960 --> 01:00:45,303
to be a loss of the fear of death.
1099
01:00:46,600 --> 01:00:48,450
- It recalibrates how they see death.
1100
01:00:49,670 --> 01:00:53,053
It's been amazing hearing them
talk about this idea of love.
1101
01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:56,580
Many of them spoke about how nature itself
1102
01:00:56,580 --> 01:00:59,333
is something like this
substance called love.
1103
01:01:01,210 --> 01:01:02,840
And having touched that,
1104
01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:05,987
they've recalibrated and shaped
how they die differently.
1105
01:01:13,410 --> 01:01:15,600
- The John Hopkins
psilocybin research team
1106
01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:19,100
has completed or has underway
a total of nine studies,
1107
01:01:19,100 --> 01:01:21,003
and it got the world's attention.
1108
01:01:25,900 --> 01:01:27,380
When we finally released the results
1109
01:01:27,380 --> 01:01:28,690
of our first experiment
1110
01:01:28,690 --> 01:01:31,320
in a peer reviewed scientific journal,
1111
01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:32,850
it was very gratifying to see
1112
01:01:32,850 --> 01:01:35,280
how the daily press responded to it.
1113
01:01:35,280 --> 01:01:37,290
- A little bit of health news for you.
1114
01:01:37,290 --> 01:01:39,950
A single dose of
psychedelic magic mushrooms
1115
01:01:39,950 --> 01:01:42,550
can make people with severe
anxiety and depression
1116
01:01:42,550 --> 01:01:44,053
feel better for months.
1117
01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:48,220
- It changes the way they view themselves,
1118
01:01:48,220 --> 01:01:53,040
other people in the world,
from a single experience,
1119
01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:56,583
not Prozac that you have to
keep taking day after day.
1120
01:01:58,200 --> 01:02:01,020
- These are not chronic drugs.
1121
01:02:01,020 --> 01:02:03,087
And that's where most of the research
1122
01:02:03,087 --> 01:02:06,580
and development in big pharma goes.
1123
01:02:06,580 --> 01:02:09,110
The treatments that are
being explored for psilocybin
1124
01:02:09,110 --> 01:02:13,850
involve one, two, maybe
three pills, that's it.
1125
01:02:13,850 --> 01:02:15,320
That's not a very good business model,
1126
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:17,325
you can't make a lot of money that way.
1127
01:02:20,510 --> 01:02:24,713
- The core of this mystical experience is,
1128
01:02:26,856 --> 01:02:28,860
is a mystery, frankly.
1129
01:02:28,860 --> 01:02:31,000
It's the existential mystery
1130
01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:33,270
of what are we really doing here?
1131
01:02:33,270 --> 01:02:36,160
What's the meaning of all this?
1132
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:40,414
And that is a very uplifting
kind of experience to have.
1133
01:02:40,414 --> 01:02:42,380
- As a whole, there's a sense
1134
01:02:42,380 --> 01:02:45,883
of being part of a larger network.
1135
01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:51,633
And somehow that's more real
after a mystical experience.
1136
01:02:53,610 --> 01:02:56,040
You feel that you really are connected
1137
01:02:56,040 --> 01:02:59,233
in some meaningful way with
every atom of the universe.
1138
01:03:00,810 --> 01:03:05,570
- From my perspective, this
core experience informs
1139
01:03:05,570 --> 01:03:08,700
all of the religious,
ethical, and moral traditions.
1140
01:03:08,700 --> 01:03:13,273
I mean, that is the core of
love thy neighbor as thyself.
1141
01:03:14,930 --> 01:03:17,660
If we don't get some of
these priorities straight
1142
01:03:17,660 --> 01:03:20,270
with respect to how we treat other people,
1143
01:03:20,270 --> 01:03:24,853
how we treat our environment,
we're gonna cease to exist.
1144
01:03:25,760 --> 01:03:28,300
I could see this as being critical
1145
01:03:28,300 --> 01:03:31,139
to the evolution of the species frankly.
1146
01:03:33,580 --> 01:03:35,430
You wouldn't go hiking
up the Himalayan mountains
1147
01:03:35,430 --> 01:03:37,110
without any preparation.
1148
01:03:37,110 --> 01:03:38,313
Well, this is a journey.
1149
01:03:39,460 --> 01:03:41,050
These are sacraments and medicines
1150
01:03:41,050 --> 01:03:44,073
that should be treated
with respect and caution.
1151
01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:52,713
Consider it to be like going
to your own personal church,
1152
01:03:53,618 --> 01:03:56,947
and you're going to sit
in awe of the universe.
1153
01:04:30,450 --> 01:04:32,490
- We have a new study,
which is quite remarkable.
1154
01:04:32,490 --> 01:04:33,630
It's working with religious leaders.
1155
01:04:33,630 --> 01:04:36,940
These are ordained clergy
of many traditions:
1156
01:04:36,940 --> 01:04:39,463
Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism.
1157
01:04:40,580 --> 01:04:43,040
Since these experiences are at the core
1158
01:04:43,040 --> 01:04:44,670
of the major religions,
1159
01:04:44,670 --> 01:04:48,860
why not bring in religious
leaders who spent their careers
1160
01:04:48,860 --> 01:04:52,602
studying this landscape
to have the experience?
1161
01:05:09,270 --> 01:05:10,830
- You guys hear that?
1162
01:05:10,830 --> 01:05:12,110
You didn't?
- Vibrating.
1163
01:05:12,110 --> 01:05:14,390
- Vibrating, phone call was coming in.
1164
01:05:14,390 --> 01:05:15,223
There she goes.
1165
01:05:16,600 --> 01:05:17,913
Message from mom.
1166
01:05:18,820 --> 01:05:20,600
Inbound message from mother.
1167
01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:23,020
I think I had the best of all mothers.
1168
01:05:23,020 --> 01:05:25,492
My mother was extremely kind.
1169
01:05:32,740 --> 01:05:36,780
So another mushroom
empowers the immune system
1170
01:05:36,780 --> 01:05:38,580
and this is Turkey Tails.
1171
01:05:38,580 --> 01:05:40,340
And Turkey Tail mushrooms have been used
1172
01:05:40,340 --> 01:05:42,460
for more than 1,000 years.
1173
01:05:42,460 --> 01:05:47,300
This hit home to me very
personally in June of 2009
1174
01:05:47,300 --> 01:05:50,327
when my 84-year-old mother
called me up and says,
1175
01:05:50,327 --> 01:05:53,190
"Paul, I have something very
serious to talk to you about."
1176
01:05:53,190 --> 01:05:55,057
She says, "My right breast is five times
1177
01:05:55,057 --> 01:05:57,087
"the size of my left.
1178
01:05:57,087 --> 01:06:00,830
"I have six swollen lymph
glands the size of walnuts,"
1179
01:06:00,830 --> 01:06:02,120
and her voice started shaking,
1180
01:06:02,120 --> 01:06:04,810
and I'm not ashamed to
admit that I started crying.
1181
01:06:04,810 --> 01:06:07,160
She had stage 4 breast cancer.
1182
01:06:07,160 --> 01:06:09,557
But then the doctor said, "You're too old
1183
01:06:09,557 --> 01:06:10,747
"to have radiation therapy,
1184
01:06:10,747 --> 01:06:12,827
"you can't have your breasts removed,
1185
01:06:12,827 --> 01:06:15,447
"but there's an interesting
study on Turkey Tail mushrooms
1186
01:06:15,447 --> 01:06:16,617
"at Bisteria Medical School.
1187
01:06:16,617 --> 01:06:18,940
"You might want to try taking those."
1188
01:06:18,940 --> 01:06:22,240
And my mother goes, "Well,
my son is supplying those."
1189
01:06:22,240 --> 01:06:26,850
So she was put on Taxol and
Herceptin, wonderful drugs,
1190
01:06:26,850 --> 01:06:29,570
and she started taking eight
Turkey Tail capsules a day,
1191
01:06:29,570 --> 01:06:32,640
four in the morning,
and four in the evening.
1192
01:06:32,640 --> 01:06:35,930
And that was in June of 2009.
1193
01:06:35,930 --> 01:06:40,930
And today my mother has
no detectable tumors.
1194
01:06:41,130 --> 01:06:42,986
And I'd like to bring my mother up.
1195
01:06:56,860 --> 01:06:59,223
- You have to live
through it to believe it.
1196
01:07:01,060 --> 01:07:02,730
- By the way, thank you
for giving birth to me,
1197
01:07:02,730 --> 01:07:03,980
I really appreciate that.
1198
01:07:04,880 --> 01:07:06,573
- You haven't thanked me lately?
1199
01:07:10,250 --> 01:07:12,070
- It has been reported in literature
1200
01:07:12,070 --> 01:07:14,720
that medicinal mushrooms like turkey tail
1201
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:17,030
help chemotherapeutic agents work better.
1202
01:07:17,030 --> 01:07:19,180
And I think she's a
living example of that.
1203
01:07:27,800 --> 01:07:30,310
One can argue with me on the statistics,
1204
01:07:30,310 --> 01:07:31,950
but my mother is alive
1205
01:07:31,950 --> 01:07:34,310
and all the doctors that saw her
1206
01:07:34,310 --> 01:07:37,056
did not believe that she would survive.
1207
01:07:51,330 --> 01:07:56,175
- It is my great honor to
introduce Paul Stamets.
1208
01:08:01,750 --> 01:08:03,010
Keep going, bud.
1209
01:08:03,010 --> 01:08:04,820
- I brought a fungal friend of mine
1210
01:08:04,820 --> 01:08:06,520
from the old growth forest.
1211
01:08:06,520 --> 01:08:08,601
And I present to you
1212
01:08:09,609 --> 01:08:10,442
agarikon.
1213
01:08:16,982 --> 01:08:18,945
Agarikon was described in 65 AD
1214
01:08:18,945 --> 01:08:21,690
as Elixirium at longem vitum,
1215
01:08:21,690 --> 01:08:23,053
the Elixer of long life.
1216
01:08:25,600 --> 01:08:29,413
So I want to take you on a
magical mushroom mystery tour,
1217
01:08:31,790 --> 01:08:34,083
And I'm gonna push the
envelope here, folks.
1218
01:08:35,340 --> 01:08:38,083
Mycodiversity is biodiversity.
1219
01:08:38,990 --> 01:08:42,950
You will decompose, I'm gonna decompose.
1220
01:08:42,950 --> 01:08:44,153
We're all gonna die!
1221
01:08:45,860 --> 01:08:50,347
That's okay, because we will
enter into the mycoverse.
1222
01:08:52,240 --> 01:08:54,960
We will forever exist together
1223
01:08:54,960 --> 01:08:57,760
within the myco molecular matrix.
1224
01:08:57,760 --> 01:08:59,670
- When he talks the way he does,
1225
01:08:59,670 --> 01:09:04,620
he is channeling the mycelium.
1226
01:09:04,620 --> 01:09:07,180
And this is a marvelous thing.
1227
01:09:07,180 --> 01:09:11,830
- Brain neurons, mycelium,
the computer internet,
1228
01:09:11,830 --> 01:09:13,470
the organization of the universe,
1229
01:09:13,470 --> 01:09:16,000
all shares the same archetype.
1230
01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:19,260
I believe matter begets life,
1231
01:09:19,260 --> 01:09:21,060
life becomes single cells,
1232
01:09:21,060 --> 01:09:25,260
single cells form chains,
chains forms branches,
1233
01:09:25,260 --> 01:09:27,900
matrices form interlocking,
1234
01:09:27,900 --> 01:09:32,260
intersecting mosaics of mycelium,
1235
01:09:32,260 --> 01:09:35,690
and mycelium-like organisms ebb and flow
1236
01:09:35,690 --> 01:09:37,210
not only on this planet,
1237
01:09:37,210 --> 01:09:38,860
on other planets into the future.
1238
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:41,141
Thank you very much.
1239
01:09:48,240 --> 01:09:50,330
- Paul was wonderful about
bringing us information
1240
01:09:50,330 --> 01:09:52,223
about all these aspects of mushrooms.
1241
01:09:53,571 --> 01:09:55,630
And then it inspired
all these young people.
1242
01:09:55,630 --> 01:09:57,400
Now we have people like Trad Kotter
1243
01:09:57,400 --> 01:09:59,640
carrying on all the great
work that Paul started,
1244
01:09:59,640 --> 01:10:01,630
talking about bio-pesticides,
1245
01:10:01,630 --> 01:10:04,200
talking about the ways
you can detoxify oil.
1246
01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:06,560
All of these amazing things were started
1247
01:10:06,560 --> 01:10:08,520
because people like Paul brought that
1248
01:10:08,520 --> 01:10:10,200
to the culture at large.
1249
01:10:10,200 --> 01:10:11,960
And young people now
have taken up the cause
1250
01:10:11,960 --> 01:10:14,550
and are really expanding our insights
1251
01:10:14,550 --> 01:10:17,520
into what the world of
mushrooms can do for us.
1252
01:10:17,520 --> 01:10:18,367
- Hi, my name's Peter and I'm with
1253
01:10:18,367 --> 01:10:20,050
the Radical Mycology Project.
1254
01:10:20,050 --> 01:10:21,380
I recently trained a mushroom
1255
01:10:21,380 --> 01:10:23,370
to digest used cigarette filters.
1256
01:10:23,370 --> 01:10:25,000
- Paul Stamet's book "Mycelium Running",
1257
01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:27,050
got my mind sort of in a whirl.
1258
01:10:27,050 --> 01:10:28,530
That was when I first discovered
1259
01:10:28,530 --> 01:10:31,883
there was much more to
mushrooms than just food.
1260
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:35,370
- If you would have seen
me when I dropped out
1261
01:10:35,370 --> 01:10:37,030
of high school, I was
just making rap music.
1262
01:10:37,030 --> 01:10:39,370
I knew very little
about the natural world,
1263
01:10:39,370 --> 01:10:42,140
I never even went on
a hike until I was 18.
1264
01:10:42,140 --> 01:10:44,070
But finding Paul Stamets' TED talk video
1265
01:10:44,070 --> 01:10:46,350
was one of the big
inspirations that pushed me
1266
01:10:46,350 --> 01:10:49,200
into the wonderful world of mycology.
1267
01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:51,990
- My first mushroom book was
"The Mushroom Cultivator"
1268
01:10:51,990 --> 01:10:53,280
by Paul Stamets.
1269
01:10:53,280 --> 01:10:55,330
- I will be eternally thankful to him
1270
01:10:55,330 --> 01:10:58,073
for showing me that it's
okay to be mushroom mad.
1271
01:10:59,880 --> 01:11:02,550
- We really don't even know most fungi.
1272
01:11:02,550 --> 01:11:05,410
We're discovering new
species on a daily basis
1273
01:11:05,410 --> 01:11:06,560
and you really don't have to go
1274
01:11:06,560 --> 01:11:09,133
to exotic locations to discover them.
1275
01:11:10,270 --> 01:11:12,550
- Anybody can add to the
science from identifying
1276
01:11:12,550 --> 01:11:16,000
a new species to developing a
new myco-remediation protocol.
1277
01:11:16,000 --> 01:11:17,940
There's a great
need for more people
1278
01:11:17,940 --> 01:11:22,150
to study fungi and there's
lots of opportunities.
1279
01:11:22,150 --> 01:11:24,300
It's amazing what
we don't know about mushrooms.
1280
01:11:24,300 --> 01:11:26,530
They really are a frontier of knowledge.
1281
01:11:26,530 --> 01:11:30,320
They probably can help us
solve all sorts of problems,
1282
01:11:30,320 --> 01:11:32,300
if we would look a little deeper.
1283
01:11:32,300 --> 01:11:36,400
- Anyone, anyone can help by
going and walking in the woods
1284
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:37,930
and contributing to mycology.
1285
01:11:37,930 --> 01:11:40,680
You may have found a species
that has never been found.
1286
01:11:42,260 --> 01:11:44,200
We need these mushrooms.
1287
01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:47,880
We work together as a
community to solve problems.
1288
01:11:47,880 --> 01:11:51,513
We could be the community
that heals the planet.
1289
01:11:52,840 --> 01:11:55,830
- It's been estimated
two-thirds of our food supply
1290
01:11:55,830 --> 01:11:57,363
is bee-pollinated dependent.
1291
01:11:58,400 --> 01:12:00,040
Unfortunately we're losing bees
1292
01:12:00,040 --> 01:12:01,790
across the world in a dramatic die off
1293
01:12:01,790 --> 01:12:04,740
that is very dangerous for the
bio security of this planet.
1294
01:12:06,020 --> 01:12:08,730
So I started exploring
ways to help save the bees.
1295
01:12:08,730 --> 01:12:09,970
And I noticed in the summertime
1296
01:12:09,970 --> 01:12:11,550
there's a continuous convoy of bees
1297
01:12:11,550 --> 01:12:14,260
going from my beehives to mycelium.
1298
01:12:14,260 --> 01:12:15,720
But then it dawned on me,
1299
01:12:15,720 --> 01:12:17,290
maybe the bees were benefiting
1300
01:12:17,290 --> 01:12:18,800
from the mycelial extracts
1301
01:12:18,800 --> 01:12:21,120
because they have anti-viral properties.
1302
01:12:21,120 --> 01:12:23,690
And so I cultured the
most aggressive strains
1303
01:12:23,690 --> 01:12:25,150
and then submitted them.
1304
01:12:25,150 --> 01:12:27,700
We started testing the
effects of these extracts
1305
01:12:27,700 --> 01:12:29,543
in helping bees survive.
1306
01:12:30,400 --> 01:12:32,760
- Some of these fungal
extracts are really good
1307
01:12:32,760 --> 01:12:35,680
at reducing viral levels in the bee.
1308
01:12:35,680 --> 01:12:39,350
So here we have a fungus
that is helping fight viruses
1309
01:12:39,350 --> 01:12:40,730
in an insect.
1310
01:12:40,730 --> 01:12:42,000
- We're musing mushrooms to create
1311
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:43,780
an entirely new class of materials
1312
01:12:43,780 --> 01:12:46,723
which are totally compostable
at the end of their lives.
1313
01:12:48,670 --> 01:12:50,230
- The researchers found
that when they heated
1314
01:12:50,230 --> 01:12:51,670
a portobello mushroom skin
1315
01:12:51,670 --> 01:12:53,580
to roughly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
1316
01:12:53,580 --> 01:12:55,880
it became a lattice of carbon nano ribbon
1317
01:12:55,880 --> 01:12:57,570
that could be used in battery design
1318
01:12:57,570 --> 01:12:58,850
because it allows a good amount
1319
01:12:58,850 --> 01:13:01,280
of surface area for storing energy.
1320
01:13:01,280 --> 01:13:04,810
- You can filter water, you
can create medicinal compounds
1321
01:13:04,810 --> 01:13:06,720
almost on demand.
1322
01:13:06,720 --> 01:13:08,450
We work in Haiti and they look at you
1323
01:13:08,450 --> 01:13:10,550
like I had superpowers.
1324
01:13:10,550 --> 01:13:11,857
Well, I tell them, I said,
1325
01:13:11,857 --> 01:13:14,137
"You're about to have superpowers too."
1326
01:13:15,340 --> 01:13:16,810
- Coming from the background of not having
1327
01:13:16,810 --> 01:13:18,800
any training and getting
myself into the lab,
1328
01:13:18,800 --> 01:13:21,110
was very empowering, I
felt like a superhero.
1329
01:13:21,110 --> 01:13:22,710
I felt like I could do anything.
1330
01:13:23,710 --> 01:13:26,040
You're officially a mushroom farmer.
1331
01:13:26,040 --> 01:13:28,890
- Spore Lady.
- Spore Lady and Sporegasm.
1332
01:13:28,890 --> 01:13:32,470
- I see my species as
part of a larger whole.
1333
01:13:32,470 --> 01:13:34,770
Rather than being at
the top of the pyramid,
1334
01:13:34,770 --> 01:13:37,943
being one of the organisms
with inside the circle.
1335
01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:42,540
And the circle is made up of mycelium
1336
01:13:42,540 --> 01:13:44,605
holding us all together.
1337
01:13:52,130 --> 01:13:55,110
- We've always thought of
plants as these inert objects,
1338
01:13:55,110 --> 01:13:57,130
these things that don't actually
1339
01:13:57,130 --> 01:13:59,680
interact with each other and build things.
1340
01:13:59,680 --> 01:14:02,780
And what my work is showing and
other people's work as well,
1341
01:14:02,780 --> 01:14:04,830
is saying, actually they need each other.
1342
01:14:06,380 --> 01:14:08,750
They need each other
to grow in a community
1343
01:14:08,750 --> 01:14:10,883
so that they can start sharing the load.
1344
01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:13,230
You do this, I'll do that,
1345
01:14:13,230 --> 01:14:16,403
and together we can make a
beautiful resilient community.
1346
01:14:19,120 --> 01:14:20,960
They have an incredible capacity
1347
01:14:20,960 --> 01:14:23,670
to make things change very, very quickly.
1348
01:14:23,670 --> 01:14:26,570
So if we can work with them,
if we get it, you know,
1349
01:14:26,570 --> 01:14:29,920
if humans get it, we can
change this thing really fast.
1350
01:14:29,920 --> 01:14:31,820
So I am super hopeful.
1351
01:14:31,820 --> 01:14:34,967
We've just got to get busy
and help nature do it's thing.
1352
01:14:40,390 --> 01:14:41,920
- Evolution never stops.
1353
01:14:41,920 --> 01:14:43,550
There's not one point it happens
1354
01:14:43,550 --> 01:14:45,000
and then it doesn't happen again.
1355
01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:46,433
It's continuously happening.
1356
01:14:52,260 --> 01:14:53,840
A core concept of evolution
1357
01:14:53,840 --> 01:14:55,800
is that through natural selection,
1358
01:14:55,800 --> 01:14:57,733
the strongest and the fittest survive.
1359
01:14:59,030 --> 01:15:03,650
But, moreover, communities
survive better than individuals.
1360
01:15:03,650 --> 01:15:06,500
Communities rely upon cooperation.
1361
01:15:06,500 --> 01:15:08,550
And I think that's the power of goodness.
1362
01:15:10,120 --> 01:15:14,740
Evolution is based on the
concept of mutual benefit
1363
01:15:14,740 --> 01:15:17,555
and the extension of generosity.
1364
01:15:20,740 --> 01:15:24,034
When we see
it, we understand it.
1365
01:15:24,034 --> 01:15:26,000
And when we understand
it, we care about it.
1366
01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:28,850
And when we care about it,
we'll do something to save it.
1367
01:15:30,370 --> 01:15:33,180
- We need to have a paradigm
shift in our consciousness.
1368
01:15:33,180 --> 01:15:35,261
What will it take to achieve that?
1369
01:15:38,861 --> 01:15:40,980
We are not an individual.
1370
01:15:40,980 --> 01:15:44,330
We are a vast network of molecules,
1371
01:15:44,330 --> 01:15:46,710
and energies and wavelengths.
1372
01:15:46,710 --> 01:15:49,913
The interconnectiveness
of being is who we are.
1373
01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:58,620
This world of
ours is always changing,
1374
01:15:58,620 --> 01:16:00,913
not for the better, or for the worse,
1375
01:16:02,230 --> 01:16:03,393
but for life.
1376
01:16:04,510 --> 01:16:08,150
If the storms come and the water rises,
1377
01:16:08,150 --> 01:16:13,150
if fire scorches the land
or darkness descends.
1378
01:16:13,290 --> 01:16:16,343
We will be here, working.
1379
01:16:17,850 --> 01:16:19,493
As we always have.
1380
01:16:20,370 --> 01:16:23,793
Extending the network, building community,
1381
01:16:24,870 --> 01:16:26,203
restoring balance.
1382
01:16:28,270 --> 01:16:29,920
One connection at a time.
1383
01:16:33,260 --> 01:16:36,010
It may take a million years,
1384
01:16:36,010 --> 01:16:37,510
or a hundred million.
1385
01:16:38,671 --> 01:16:41,773
But we will still be here.
1386
01:16:53,442 --> 01:16:58,442
♪ There's a whole wide
world right under our feet ♪
1387
01:17:00,739 --> 01:17:05,739
♪ Watched it grow so I
hate when you leave ♪
1388
01:17:07,450 --> 01:17:12,450
♪ Connected on one leaf to a tree ♪
1389
01:17:14,503 --> 01:17:19,503
♪ From the ground this magical thing ♪
1390
01:17:20,891 --> 01:17:24,095
♪ Breathe life ♪
1391
01:17:24,095 --> 01:17:27,747
♪ And break down ♪
1392
01:17:27,747 --> 01:17:31,238
♪ Breathe in ♪
1393
01:17:31,238 --> 01:17:34,559
♪ Break out ♪
1394
01:17:34,559 --> 01:17:37,455
♪ This water, this breath ♪
1395
01:17:37,455 --> 01:17:40,955
♪ Will be how we remember ♪
1396
01:17:43,098 --> 01:17:45,990
Lt. Paul Stamets.
1397
01:17:45,990 --> 01:17:49,810
- I became an astromycologist
because of awe.
1398
01:17:49,810 --> 01:17:51,900
Awe at the miracle of life.
1399
01:17:51,900 --> 01:17:54,740
- How did you feel seeing
a fictional character
1400
01:17:54,740 --> 01:17:57,670
on Star Trek that is
inspired by your science?
1401
01:17:57,670 --> 01:17:58,820
- I'm super honored.
1402
01:17:58,820 --> 01:18:01,560
I tuned in to Star Trek when
I was about 12 years old.
1403
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:04,430
Spores, by nature, travel
through the cosmos.
1404
01:18:04,430 --> 01:18:07,160
When they germinate, some mushrooms form.
1405
01:18:07,160 --> 01:18:10,637
Some magic mushrooms to help
you bend time and space.
1406
01:18:12,390 --> 01:18:14,463
- Paul, if I were to visit you,
1407
01:18:15,330 --> 01:18:17,530
could we have some of
these magic mushrooms?
1408
01:18:18,880 --> 01:18:20,468
- Nature provides, I don't.
1409
01:18:23,554 --> 01:18:27,332
♪ Everywhere and everything ♪
1410
01:18:27,332 --> 01:18:32,332
♪ I am the reason you breathe in ♪
1411
01:18:33,934 --> 01:18:37,040
♪ Break down ♪
1412
01:18:37,040 --> 01:18:40,481
♪ So breathe in ♪
1413
01:18:40,481 --> 01:18:44,061
♪ And breathe out ♪
1414
01:18:44,061 --> 01:18:47,163
♪ Now this water, this breath ♪
1415
01:18:47,163 --> 01:18:52,163
♪ Will be how we remember ♪
1416
01:18:53,457 --> 01:18:58,457
♪ So let it all spread around ♪
1417
01:19:00,827 --> 01:19:04,410
♪ Let it all spread around ♪
1418
01:19:11,064 --> 01:19:16,064
♪ So let me bring you back to life again ♪
1419
01:19:17,466 --> 01:19:22,466
♪ Let me bring you back to life again ♪
1420
01:19:24,709 --> 01:19:29,709
♪ Let me bring you back to life again ♪
1421
01:19:31,472 --> 01:19:35,972
♪ Let me bring you back to life again ♪
105698
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