Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Stamets contends that these mycelial networks are in some sense “conscious”: aware of their environment and able to respond to challenges accordingly.

The fungus not only penetrates and envelops the tree’s roots, but also allows its web to roam through the surrounding forest floor. In so doing, it extends the reach of the tree’s own roots as the web grows out toward other trees. Here, it connects with other trees’ fungal partners and roots. And so a network is created, and now it’s easy for the t

It speaks volumes about our lives today that when we hear about networks and communication it is these artificial networks which we think of first. The far more ancient and deeply rooted networks of nature are an afterthought, if we even think of them at all. Yet I believe that this sequence of realizations is one of the most significant lessons of