Stoned Ape Theory: Did Mushrooms Shape Human Evolution?

There are many mysteries about human evolution, and many questions about how we became the thinking species that we are today. The Stoned Ape Theory, also known as the Psychedelic Ape Theory, is a controversial hypothesis that suggests that psychoactive substances, specifically psilocybin mushrooms, influenced the trajectory of our prehistoric ancestors’ cognitive development. The theory was first proposed by American ethnobotanist and mystic Terence McKenna in his 1992 book “Food of the Gods”. According to McKenna, due to desertification in Africa, humans retreated to the shrinking tropical forests, following cattle herds whose dung attracted the insects that he states were…