fungi

It is likely that fungi have been manipulating animal minds for much of the time that there have been minds to manipulate.

Once infected by the fungus, ants are stripped of their instinctive fear of heights, leave the relative safety of their nests, and climb up the nearest plant — a syndrome known as “summit disease.” In due course the fungus forces the ant to clamp its jaws around the plant in a “death grip.” Mycelium grows from the ant’s feet and stitches them to th... See more

It’s less about the identity of the “singers” in the lichen, and more about what they do—the metabolic “song” that each of them sings. In this view, lichens are dynamic systems rather than a catalogue of interacting components.

Mycelium is polyphony in bodily form.

Fungi and algae make relationships under so many circumstances. One critical condition for symbiotic relationship = “Each partner had to be able to do something the other couldn’t achieve on its own. The identity of the partners didn’t matter so much as it’s ecological fit” They are singing a metabolic song neither could sing on their own

No single neuronal circuit “knows” what’s going on any more than a single termite “knows” the structure of the mound, but large numbers of neurons can build a network from which surprising phenomenons can emerge. In this view, complex behaviors—including minds and nuanced textures of lived, conscious experience—arise out of complex networks of neur... See more