McKenna’s Stoned Ape Ancestors

American ethnobotanist and author Terence McKenna proposed the controversial "Stoned Ape" theory, arguing that psilocybin mushrooms helped drive the evolution of human consciousness, language, and culture. In his version of the idea, primate ancestors consumed psychedelic mushrooms and gained cognitive advantages that pushed human development forward. It never became accepted mainstream science, but it survives mostly as a famous and disputed theory tied to McKenna’s psychedelic worldview.

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