The Canadian philosopher [Terence McKenna] recommended taking large doses of hallucinogens alone if possible, in the dark and without music or other forms of outside stimulation. He believed this was the only way for people to realize their full potential. In his book Food of the Gods (1992), McKenna asserts that early man’s ability to evolve from the apes stems from his partaking of the psilocybin-containing mushroom Stropharia cubensis. Five million years ago, “magic mushroom” consumption freed primates from the daily grind of survival and awakened their creative potential, resulting in both the development of language and religion and the invention of practical tools. At the same time, psychoactive mushrooms increased sexual desire and thereby increased the birth rate. Unfortunately, a climate change caused the mushrooms to disappear ten thousand years ago, and the baleful period of animal husbandry, male domination, and monotheism began.

— Ingo Niermann and Adriano Sack, The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends