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I agree with you that the notion is absurd. But the article isn't making that argument and neither (according to the article) is Pollan, it's just reporting tha

by slibhb 5y ago

I agree with you that the notion is absurd. But the article isn't making that argument and neither (according to the article) is Pollan, it's just reporting that the argument has been made by decriminalization activists. I get the impression Pollan is a reasonable guy. I am skeptical of the idea that drugs (alcohol, caffeine, psychedelics, etc) are at the root of human culture and civilization. Based on what I've read of Pollan, he thinks caffeine is responsible for capitalism, which I find unlikely.

andreilys 5y ago
Have you heard of the stoned ape theory? Terence McKenna believed that psilocybin mushrooms were the "evolutionary catalyst" from which language, projective imagination, the arts, religion, philosophy, science, and all of human culture sprang. McKenna's hypothesis concerning the influence of psilocybin mushrooms on human evolution is known as "the 'stoned ape' theory."