Altered States

The phenomenon of fungal intelligence has been most strikingly observed in parasitic species such as Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which infects ants. Once spores penetrate the insect’s body, the fungus effectively commandeers its nervous system, compelling it to climb vegetation and secure itself before dying—an ideal position for the fungus to release new spores upon the colony below. Similar manipulative strategies appear in other fungi and parasites, such as Massospora in cicadas and entomophthorales fungi in flies, suggesting that behavioral hijacking is not an isolated quirk of evolution but a recurring strategy. Ancient scripture itself points to the ant as a creature worth studying for wisdom (Proverbs 6:6), and now modern biology reveals the unsettling depth of that wisdom: the ant as a case study in possession and manipulation.

Humans, unlike ants, interact with fungi not only as a biological hazard but as an intimate partner in daily life. Fungi are embedded in food, medicine, alcohol, antibiotics, and psychoactive traditions. Each encounter brings us into contact with spores—whether inhaled during harvest, ingested in meals, or absorbed through the ritual consumption of hallucinogens. Our bodies and ecosystems are saturated with fungal presence. This means that the same kingdom capable of rewriting an ant’s behavior is also entangled in human evolution, nutrition, health, and consciousness.

From this perspective, it becomes plausible that fungi may have influenced early human cognitive leaps. Proto-humans—already upright and tool-using—might have encountered fungi with psychoactive or neurochemical effects. Such contact could accelerate awareness, creativity, and symbolic thought, separating them from their primate kin. This aligns with both the enduring puzzle of the “missing link” in evolution and with mythological frameworks. In Sumerian myth, Adapa receives wisdom from the gods but is denied immortality; in Genesis, Eve consumes from the Tree and becomes “aware” of her nakedness. Both traditions point to a catalytic moment of knowledge—perhaps echoing an ancient memory of altered states induced by natural substances.

Modern history offers its own parallel in the CIA’s MKUltra program. Declassified records confirm subprojects dedicated to studying mushrooms and psychogenic compounds (notably Subprojects 22, 51, 52, and 58). The agency funded expeditions, extracted compounds, and investigated their capacity to alter perception and behavior. While not all findings were made public, the overlap between covert research and Hollywood’s flowering of films about consciousness, mutation, and external control—such as Altered States (1980)—suggests that speculative fiction often served as a cultural buffer, preparing the public imagination for discoveries too volatile to disclose directly.

Taken together, these threads—fungal manipulation of insects, constant human contact with spores, proto-human leaps of awareness, mythic echoes, and government-sponsored psychotropic research—form a pattern. They hint that human consciousness itself may not be an isolated triumph of brain evolution, but a co-authored state shaped in dialogue with fungi. The question is no longer whether fungi can alter behavior, but whether humanity’s very capacity for reflection, art, and myth may be, in part, the long echo of an ancient symbiosis.