Star Trek Discovery's Spore Drive Pleases My Inner McKenna!

Like many people, I've long been a fan of Terence McKenna. Even if one does not agree with each of his several wacky theories, his sheer contribution to human thought and speculation cannot be overlooked. And it's fair to say that McKenna remains the best, most comprehensive chronicler of the psychedelic experience ever.

One of McKenna's pet theories was on the origin of mushrooms. Google "the mushroom speaks" and you can read for yourself what the mushroom apparently told McKenna about its past and origins. In short, the theory maintains that spores- in their capacity to traverse even the irradiated vacuums of space- are of an alien origin. They rode the intergalactic streams to earth millions of years ago, as they do to newer planets even now, and have done to countless in the past. McKenna took his theory towards the psychedelic terrain, speculating that psilocybin mushrooms have been travelling across the universe for a long time. They are the observers and documenters of our reality, and they share their knowledge willingly with any sentient being that ingests these mushrooms.

Now, think what you will about this theory, but it certainly is a fascinating speculation even if it runs against known scientific facts of evolution on our planet. I've been following the new TV show Star Trek: Discovery, and its application of this theory is a delight for the McKenna nerd! I do not know if spore drives have been mentioned in previous Star Trek shows, or if in other science fiction. So for me this is my first encounter with the theory playing out on TV. The scientists on the spaceship Discovery have managed to harness the utility of spores- which in the show are abundant across the universe, forming a vast, unbroken, mycelial network not unlike the fungus networks found underneath forests here on earth. Captain Lorca explains it thus-

"Imagine a microscopic web that spans the entire cosmos. An intergalactic ecosystem. An infinite number of roads leading everywhere."

Paul Stamets, the ship's aptly named scientist, elaborates- "At the quantum level, there is no difference between biology and physics. No difference at all. And you talk about spores. What are they? They are the progenitors of panspermia. They are the building blocks of energy across the universe. Physics and biology? No; physics as biology."

There is a catch though, for the drive still needs a sentient navigator to tell the network where to jump the ship. In the show, the humans first use an intergalactic species of tardigrade, massive in size compared to its terrestrial microscopic cousin. Later, upon realising that doing so causes harm to the tardigrade, they are forced to use a human navigator.

There is so much in the modern world and its technology that one wishes Terence McKenna were alive to comment on, and in the case of this show I can only imagine how amused McKenna himself might have been.