![]() Except for some kings and nobles, most people had never eaten sugar. Let’s look at sugar as an example… The European Sugar FixationĮven to the 1600s, sugar was a rare and luxury commodity in Europe. But just like a goldfish can’t see the water it swims in, these plant relationships are so fundamental to who we are that we’re usually not aware of them. Just like some chimps will walk out of their way to get medicinal leaves, we humans have rearranged vast empires to access certain plant substances. What’s even more mind-blowing is that the native people only used leaves from 3 of the 4 local Aspilia species, and these were the same 3 species used by the chimps!įor many thousands of years, our relationships to plants have shaped human culture in deep ways. They used the leaves to treat wounds and stomach aches. What if they were eating the leaves as a kind of herbal medicine? The scientists wondered if the native people living near the park also knew of the leaves. Now the chimps strange behavior was starting to make sense. And he found thiarubrine-A acted as a strong antibiotic, killing bacteria and also helping get rid of parasitic worms in the intestinal tract! At the same time, Neil Towers at the University of British Columbia was studying the same oil but coming from a different plant. ![]() ![]() First, a biochemist at UC Irvine called Eloy Rodriguez, had discovered a chemical in Aspilia leaves called thiarubrine-A. ![]() This behavior was a huge mystery to the researchers, until one day they heard about two new discoveries related to the Aspilia plant. They repeated this with about 30 small leaves, and then left. The chimps would pick off an Aspilia leaf, roll it around their mouth for a minute, and then swallow it whole. So they wondered, “Why would these chimps be eating leaves they couldn’t digest?” And the story gets stranger.Įvery 10 days, the chimps would wake up and instead of going to their normal breakfast fruit eating spot, they walked more than 20 minutes away just to find these undigestible leaves, which the scientists noted were from the Aspilia plant. The scientists saw that one type of leaf kept showing up undigested in the chimp poo of the tribe. (By the way, this is the same place Jane Goodall became famous for her long-term study of chimps.) In Gombe Stream National Park (which is in Tanzania, East Africa) scientists noticed a chimpanzee tribe doing something very weird yet fascinating. Human-plant relationships shape culture and have done so for millenia However, his ideas stimulate and provoke many to think in novel and unexpected ways, and they might do the same for you.ġ. Some parts of McKenna’s theory will probably turn out to be incorrect as future scientific and archaelogical evidence is uncovered. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” -Aristotle McKenna says that reawakening our relationship to certain psychoactive plants may help to pull us out of these negative trajectories, by allowing us to experience the interconnected relationship between us and nature. There is also a tremendous destruction happening to the oceans, rainforests and planet. This is exemplified by the ever-rising rates of mental illness and use of pharmaceutical drugs. With modern cities and technology, people feel more alienated than ever. It was this growth in intelligence that allowed us to successfully spread across the planet and now sit at the top of the food chain. This happened at a speed scientists are still astounded by. In this book “Food of the Gods” which is also his most popular, he reveals a theory that psychoactive plants may have catalyzed the expansion of the human brain over 3 million years. He was a lecturer, author and ethnobotanist, which means he studied how specific plants shaped human cultures. Food Discussions 3.0 New Game Plus 3.0 No Sexual Content 3.0 Stranded S 3.0 Villainous Heroine S 3.0 Villainous Protagonist S 3.0 Horror S 2.8 Cannibalism S 2.8 Desperation S 2.8 Madness S 2.8 Europe 2.7 Genre Shift S 2.7 Slavic Mythology 2.7 Talking Object 2.7 Varied Title Screens S 2.7 Life and Death Drama S 2.5 Under the Same Roof 2.5 ADV 2.3 Death of Hero S 2.3 Death of Heroine S 2.3 Unlockable Concept Art 2.3 Holiday Cottage 2.2 Body Horror S 2.0 Both Male and Female Love Interests 2.0 Brief NVL Scenes 2.0 Ghost S 2.0 Group of Friends 2.0 Homicide S 2.0 Multiple Endings 2.0 Natural Disaster S 2.0 Non-Japanese Voice Acting 2.0 Rain 2.0 Unavoidable Death of Hero S 2.0 Unavoidable Death of Heroine S 2.0 Unknown Gender Protagonist S 2.0 Bloody Scenes S 1.7 Jump Scares S 1.7 Torture S 1.7 Forest 1.6 Cook Hero 1.5 Cook Heroine 1.5 Disappearance S 1.5 Metafiction S 1.5 Animated Ending S 1.3 Dating Simulation 1.3 Knife/Dagger Combat S 1.2 30's S 1.0 Character Profiles 1.0 Hero with Glasses 1.Terence McKenna captivated the attention of the post 1960s counterculture.
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