The fungi was also found to affect the hippocampus, part of the brain’s limbic system that converts short-term memories to long-term ones and processes emotions including anxiety and avoidance behaviors.
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I’m not a neurologist but these parts of the brain are not uniquely human, and converting short term memories to long term memories is called learning, and almost all animals do it.
If you want to take magic mushrooms, then take magic mushrooms. You do you. But this just seems like more people who are reaching for things to validate their choices.
The hippocampus (pl.: hippocampi; via Latin from Greek ἱππόκαμπος, ‘seahorse’) is a major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus
One could possibly make an argument that some invertebrates, and certainly jellyfish, are not conscious.
It’s quite doubtful that higher vertebrates such as birds and mammals do not have consciousness. Some like pigeons can pass the mirror test, which means they recognize themselves in the mirror.
Here’s a list of animals that can pass the mirror test:
“ I’m not a neurologist …”
Neither are the proponents of this nonsense.
“…but these parts of the brain are not uniquely human”
Yes. And even in non-mammals drugs affect the consciousness of the organism. Spiders spinning weird webs is a classic example.
many decades ago, I had a close friend who made extra bucks selling mother nature... so to speak.
He visited me at home, used the restroom and discovered inside the dark corner growing through the edge of my yucky floor tiles... that particular mushroom species...
when he came out he asked if he could buy them from me.
I was not a user or supporter of the druggy mother nature lifestyle... and I told him no and then I scrubbed the floor and ripped out the rotting floor tiles that enabled the magic mushrooms to grow.
that was five decades ago.
nature based hallucinogens are still being sold. Now the government “regulates” and taxes them... and big pharma constantly refines and expands their usage.
we are no more conscious as a society, relative to God’s will and commands than we were 5 decades ago... but we are, decidedly MUCH worse now than we were then.