Devil's Advocate: Could Psychedelic's Explain Consciousness?

 So, this morning's newsletter from The Guardian had the headline Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans, and I could not resist.

And when reading this, I wondered what these experiments might say about human consciousness:

The recordings reveal a profound impact across the brain, particularly in areas that are highly evolved in humans and instrumental in planning, language, memory, complex decision-making and imagination. The regions from which we conjure reality become hyperconnected, with communication more chaotic, fluid and flexible.

“At the dose we use, it is incredibly potent,” said Robin Carhart-Harris, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. “People describe leaving this world and breaking through into another that is incredibly immersive and richly complex, sometimes being populated by other beings that they feel might hold special power over them, like gods.”

He added: “What we have seen is that DMT breaks down the basic networks of the brain, causing them to become less distinct from each other. We also see the major rhythms of the brain – that serve a largely inhibitory, constraining function – break down, and in concert, brain activity becomes more entropic or information-rich.”

Humans have sought the altered states brought on by ayahuasca for at least 1,000 years. In 2019, an archaeological dig at a Bolivian cave unearthed a leather pouch fashioned from three fox snouts. Analysis of the bag’s interior revealed traces of DMT, cocaine, probably from coca leaf, and other psychoactive substances. The bag, dating from AD900 to 1170, was wrapped in a bundle with little llama bone spatulas, wooden snuffing tablets and a brightly coloured headband.

There is something about the human brain that seeks transcendence. I wonder is the cause internal, or was it from some ancient predecessor ingesting a magic mushroom. I doubt the latter, it would take a widespread use to create our state of consciousness. A mutation caused by the drug spread through reproduction? 

Some interesting thoughts. What it might be doing for depression is even more important.

sch 3/21