Hacker Cinema
Fantastic Fungi
2019 · Film · documentary · 80 min
Directed by Louie Schwartzberg
A vivid journey into the mysterious subterranean world of mycelium and its fruit— the mushroom. A story that begins 3.5 billion years ago, fungi makes the soil that supports life, connecting vast systems of roots from plants and trees all over the planet, like an underground Internet. Through the eyes of renowned mycologist Paul Stamets, professor of forest ecology Suzanne Simard, best selling author Michael Pollan, food naturalist Eugenia Bone and others, we experience the power, beauty and complexity of the fungi kingdom.
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24 comments on Hacker News
I feel like this might have been shown in the 2019 documentary 'Fantastic Fungi' (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8258074/) - really interesting and fun movie.
In this 2019 documentary [1], "Fantastic Fungi", it is briefly mentioned that fungi played a paramount role in the evolution of our brain (intelligence)
[1]: https://www.netflix.com/fi-en/title/81183477
This study mentions what's briefly said in "Fantastic Fungi" 2019 documentary: https://www.netflix.com/fi-en/title/81183477
Apart from this, when I was a teenager, I remember I read in a Belgian scientific magazine called "Athena" that studies confirmed red meat to be the key to our ancestor's brain evolution.
In the documentary (I'm assuming Fantastic Fungi), he came off as one of those types that are first and foremost making money off it, but also believes some of what he's saying. I honestly just wanted that documentary to just be a Planet Earth style thing with mushroom footage, and less talking heads.
A discussion regarding colossal fungi and mycorrhizal networks -- I'm going to take this opportunity to plug the highly entertaining documentary Fantastic Fungi and book Entangled Life.
Learning / Curiosity:
Fantastic Fungi, Paul Stamets - Because I watched the Netflix documentary
The Order of Time, Carlo Rovelli - Because someone here mentioned it and it peaked my interest
Cloud Hidden, Alan Watts - Because I hord Alan Watts quotes and need to finally read one of his works completely
The Molecule of More, Lieberman & Long - Came across it at a book store and looked interesting
Pleasure
The Go-Giver, Burg & Mann - Been on my list for a while but can't remember why.
First up - don't take the harsh tone of some commenters to heart. It can be difficult for people to put themselves in your shoes!
As a 44 year old single male with very average looks who beat (smashed the sh!t out of) stage 4 bowel cancer about 4 years ago, I can somewhat identify with what you are going through. Perhaps the main difference between you and I is that I f^%$ing love life.
Some thoughts / ideas that you may find helpful:
- How much alcohol do you drink? If the answer is anywhere near "a lot", stop that right now. I decided to do Dry July in support of the Australian Cancer Council, and it's remarkable the thoughts and emotions you are forced to deal with when you can't drown them with booze. After 12 days, the mental clarity and energy I have is simply amazing.
- Try to stop focusing on money. You do not need to earn $500k per year to be happy, let alone find someone else that does, too! I could be doing government contracts and earning similar amounts (also, I quit my job at Microsoft in Redmond about 5 years ago), but instead I choose to work a 4 day week for a funded "startup" where the work is so much more creative and meaningful. I really look forward to going to work now!
- Related to above, start (or focus more) on personal projects that stimulate your creative, intellectual mind. Rediscover the joy of learning.
- Your children are a blessing even if they are hard work sometimes - try to rediscover the joy there (disclaimer: I do not have kids of my own but really enjoy spending time with friend's children of all ages).
- Exercise. This is really important! Find an activity that you enjoy - it doesn't have to be hitting the gym, just something that raises your heart rate - and do it several times a week. Not only will this make you more attractive to women, it will stimulate your body into producing more of the hormones that make you happier. You never know, you might just meet your wife at said activity.
If you can find contentment in yourself again, finding a wife becomes secondary to simply enjoying life.
Finally - if you struggle with the internal mental and emotional side of things (it seems clear that you do?), you need to fix this. Psychotherapy is not just for crazy people! I do not condone the use of illicit substances, but the fastest and easiest way to rewire your brain is through psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD. If you are in doubt, I highly recommend watching "Fantastic Fungi" on Netflix. It will blow your mind!
HTH!
"Fantastic Fungi documentary" and "Fantastic Fungi" documentary mean quite different things. The correct one here is the latter, or 'Fantastic "Fantastic Fungi" documentary'. Yes, I'm in a pedantic mood, and I'm glad I caught my 'fungy' spelling mistake before I hit 'reply'.
"Fantastic Fungi" documentary, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Fungi, trailer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxABOiay6oA, and on Netflix.
Ants have some methods of doing this exactly, with some guards at the entrance carrying off infected ants before they can enter. Seen in the documentary "fantastic fungi".
There's also Fantastic Fungi (2019), which is on Netflix (at least where I am in Australia)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxABOiay6oA
Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offers us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.
I highly recommend the documentary "Fantastic Fungi" [1] (2019) to anyone interested in this topic. Can be viewed on Netflix. It will give you a good sense of what's driving the interest in this field.
1. Fantastic Fungi https://g.co/kgs/1UMWga
There's a very good documentary about the theme: "Fantastic Fungi". It exposes a theory that the trees can "talk" with it other through the the Fungi network.
The 'Fantastic Fungi' movie (available on Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/title/81183477 and likely other places too) has some awesome mushroom timelapse sequences too, as well as being generally interesting if you want to know more about mycology.
I know the parent comment was a bit tongue in cheek, but it reminds me of a theory about the origins of human intelligence that I heard in the documentary Fantastic Fungi. Long story short the theory is that our ancestors stumbled upon magic mushrooms and the psychedelic experience was a spark of new perspective, and then the one who discovered the mushrooms would take its tribe to other psychedelic mushrooms and have them try them so that they would all experience the perspective shift.
Highly recommend watching Fantastic Fungi for anyone else interested in this space:
https://fantasticfungi.com/
I recently watched the film Fantastic Fungi and I think she makes an appearance in it. I was really fascinated when they mention how trees can use mycelium to transfer nutrients to other trees, but wished they could go more in depth on how that works. This Ted talk is a great supplement to the research
Just recently watched a movie last week, 'Fantastic Fungi'. It covers some of this, as well as many other interesting (and beautiful) aspects about Mushrooms/Fungi.
Highly, highly suggested.
"Fantastic Fungi" (IMDB link below)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8258074/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Watch the documentary Fantastic Fungi, it talks about overcoming stuttering during a magic mushroom trip.
I recently watched the documentary "Fantastic Fungi" and it had very interesting part about how myccelium have millions or billions of tiny roots connecting and crisscrossing through the soil all across the country, like a single macro lifeform conglomerating underground.
Most interesting was a comment about how we have recently discovered that trees communicate using these myccelium roots, things like signals of distress from lack of water or from nearby fires. I couldn't help but think of these roots as something like neural pathways. It is amazing how much we still have to learn about mushrooms.
If you're interested in mycology, I suggest you watch Fantastic Fungi from last year! It was really cool and had great time lapses!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8258074/
The recent documentary Fantastic Fungi [1] covers psilocybin patients as well (alongside other fun fungi facts), worth a watch, IMHO.
[1] https://fantasticfungi.com/
Unrelated: I just saw Fantastic Fungi[1], a Louie Schwartzberg film, which discusses Psilocybin in depth. It is one of the most visually entertaining movies I've ever seen. Highly recommend!
[1] https://fantasticfungi.com/
If you are in the Bay Area, and are interested in Fungi checkout the debut of renowned Mycologist Paul Stamets film called Fantastic Fungi. He will be speaking afterwards as well taking questions.
https://fantasticfungi.com/castro/