Merlin Sheldrake: The philosophy of fungi
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- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- Freddie Sayers meets Merlin Sheldrake.
Read the supporting article: unherd.com/thepost/merlin-she...
Listen to the podcast version: shows.acast.com/lockdowntv-wi...
What have fungi got to do with politics, philosophy, Covid-19 or any of the great crises we face?
Well, potentially rather a lot. Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and expert on the mysterious world of fungi, and has just published a book on the subject, Entangled Life, that grabbed our attention. He’s a fascinating character and we’ve all found ourselves rather mesmerised with the story he has to tell about the fungal world, its possibilities as well as its challenges to our politics and philosophical assumptions.
We start with the basics, and get increasingly abstract - come minute 37 you might think differently about things! Enjoy.
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Please comment below for any guests that you would like to see on the show. We'd love to hear from you!
On the subject of covid-19 and the reaction to it - Professor Sucharit Bhakdi from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. I'm not sure if he speaks good English though, I expect he does. As far as I am aware he was one of the first experts giving a calm analysis urging caution and being very worried about governments and populations overreacting to the threat.
I would like to see Peter Hitchens - Government topic. George Galloway - international politics. Senator Rand Paul - Government debt and American politics, especially involving racial equality. Love the show!
Prof Francois Balloux
Ivor Cummins! He has a channel here on RUclips, has a podcast called The Fat Emperor.
Please interview Dr. Edward Dutton. He is currently working on a lot of groundbreaking research on IQ and many other fascinating controversial subjects.
A mushroom scientist named Merlin. You can't make this up.
??
And his brother Cosmo is making wonderful music
ruclips.net/video/N-gINMMRx1g/видео.html
Check out the work of his dad - rupert sheldrake
Fab family :)
And his mom, a vocalist
And I want to to say something: he has also a wonderful voice. He plays occasionally with his musician brother, Cosmo Sheldrake.
Wriggle
Every time I hear a Merlin Sheldrake interview, I’m calmed, my eyes see things clearer and I learn so much; and I can assure you I’ve seen a lot of his interviews. I’ve always been interested in the natural world, I love it’s mysticism and how it keeps revealing snippets, and the people who find them. Thank you for a very thought provoking and great intellectual discussion, both. ❤
The Sheldrake legacy continues. Perfectly splendid speech 👏👏👏
Ok so now i'm convinced that the Sheldrake family is not coming from this world
Or perhaps they are more connected to this world than most living in dissociated perspective
@@bluenorth3965 Yes I see it all the time. It tells me that people who are immersed in the natural world, and the natural world itself is alien to most people now due to the social constructs that the majority now lives in.
Lol true , I did research on every oh his family members, I couldn't believe they are real.
@@makar_on what’s weird about them. I just stumbled upon this video
@@grimaffiliations3671 his dad is famous parapsychologist who claims to be scientist. He believes in morphic fields and telepathy.
Cosmo sheldrake is a musician who writes really weird and at the same time beautiful songs.
Merlin is mycologist ,he wrote a book about fungi and then grew fungi in this book (like literally on book pages) and ate them.
Mother was a vocal trainer, and out of them all she's probably the most normal but still is really creative person.
I love sheldrake family, they're like so surreal
Imagine a population flooded with information like this everyday....
When academia isn't busy creating ranting Marxist zealots it produces this: some guy gets taxpayer funding to pursue his autistic obsession. He's the globetrotting Indiana Jones of the fungi ... The Temple of the Fungi? We're all supposed to be terribly impressed. But I'm sure that at the end of it he'll end up the compost gazilliionaire with CompostBook surpassing FB and Amazon combined, or something like that. ... so why did I just spend 10 minutes writing this ... ?
If you think you can dismiss this as an "autistic obsession" you either haven't watched the whole interview or haven't understood any of it and its deep relevance to our current world
@@simricyarrow There is a problem when you start off the interview with the guy's childhood stories. i don't have infinite amount of time. I need them to get to the point quickly. This channel has too many leftist nutcases I sort of stopped paying attention. Send me the timestamp and I'll give it attention.
The population is busy watching Cardi B's WAP
@@TomTabaczynski why have you spent ten minutes writing the comment, he was very distinct in what he was discussing, , he is not the only my ecologist to talk about the underlying fungal networks and how they work with plants. I was diagnosed with having aspergellosis ( a fungal infection of aspergillous ) I had asthma connected to this, it grew and also declined every six weeks. I was sent into hospital and spent 3 and half months there given new medicine to kill off this organism which it did eventually so I know what he is saying is right.
Wow ! in recent years a TED speaker once said that " there is no single scientist on the planet that fully understands what is going on in a single centimetre of soil ". It's info like this that confirms it. This stuff about mycology and the wood wide web is so mind boggling that comprehending the entire process of soil technology would require knowledge of a wider range of sciences.What a challenge for any one interested in soil and associated organisms. However, just consider the impact of applying this knowledge !! I imagine it could change our planet into a plant paradise.
Then they say that this mysterious and baffling world with all its beautiful complexities just evolved from nothing. The world harmonises like an exquisite, masterful symphony and so it is fairly obvious that Someone wrote it/built it/designed it. The question is not if but who.
Scientists today are in the weird position of knowing a lot especially (within their own ever narrower fields) and simultaneously knowing nothing about why the problem happens or how to solve it without creating new problems, whack-a-mole style.
First. We need to figure out a way to TAX the Wood Wide Web. Preferably a 60 to 75 % tax like in Scandinavia
@@sdrchannel576 fungi built it...
Amazing interview. Merlin's voice is oddly relaxing, almost fell asleep....
Hahah, I know where he learnt that from!
@@OttoGrainer27 where?
@@PureRAWinsanity His father, Rupert. One of the most calming yet wakeful speakers I've ever heard in my life. Not surprising, having studied with Terrence McKenna.
His mother’s voice is very relaxing as well Jill Purce
I bought Entangled Lives in audible so I could relax and fall asleep to his voice! As an added bonus, the content is utterly fascinating.
The Sheldrake family are so fascinating! Merlin's book was a nice way to hide this winter for me! Didn't even know Rupert had a son and when I saw Entangled Life for sale at my local book seller I knew instinctively to pick pick it up when I saw the name! Thanks for the interview UnHerd! You guys do great work!
he has another son, a musician called Cosmo. And their mother, Jill Purce is also a fascinating woman. A truly great family.
@@amanitamuscaria7500 Yes. Agreed! Jill Purce is a brilliant singer. Saw her and Dr. Rupert in person some years ago at a symposium. Thrilling.
Nice to see Frodo branching out into new disciplines
The mysterious atmosphere in which this interview is held perfectly matches the topic. Great job by the set designers.
Freddy, I have run out of qualifiers to describe your eclectic interests. Keep up the diversified and incisive interviews. Thanks so much!
"Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm". Bravo, Merlin and thanks Freddie.
This is one of the most fascinating interviews I've heard in a long time. Truly thought inducing on a very deep level. Thank you so much! So appreciated.
As an amateur mycologist myself I have found this a wonderful interview. I shall certainly be ordering the book! Thank You!
A fascinating interview. Merlin's book is apparently selling like hot cakes and will hopefully inspire respect and an increased interest in the world of fungi.
This guy is everything you'd expect from a guy named Merlin Sheldrake 😄 Super interesting subject and great interview!
I just love this guy...and his father and his brother too! They all seem to possess a particular flavor of intelligence that I appreciat immensely. Maybe their my "brothers from a fungi mother"! 😊
Parenting done right!!!
An intelligent, non-screaming host and an intelligent guest - how refreshing! The parallels between mycelium and the internet would be an interesting discussion.
This is facinating. Having studied horticulture I am aware of the benefit that micorrhizal symbiosis to plants but I had no idea of the complexity. This book will be my next read. It strikes me that the only way we are going to see any sort of logic on this current "pandemic" is if we have some sort of unbiased international think tank involving experts from a wide range of the academic world. Putting all our trust in the likes of the WHO is a monumental error that we will all pay dearly for.
This was fascinating and a welcome respite, thank you for sharing Merlin’s perspective and knowledge with us! I am ALWAYS fascinated by the true miracles of nature and, as humans, our small part in this world. As always, great work.
Yet another Sheldrake connection-to-widening-horizons. Thanks for the posting, the interview. I've known about Merlin for some time, but finally getting a chance to explore what he has to say in yet another "wider view" of all things great and small.
The Sheldrake family are all so amazing and talented
I predict this will be the most fascinating vid I shall watch this year.
I love to see different perspectives on how to look at the scientific world. This guy's way of rationalising things is both cerebral and mystical.
Wonderful. Humbling. Exciting.
I wonder what his thoughts are about hydroponic growing which avoids any fungal interaction. Does this mean that hydroponic grown vegetables are lacking in some nutrients that soil grown plants have. Just a thought.
I'd like to know the answer to this as well. Thanks for asking, John.
Everything plants need nutritionally are in "dirt" (inert rock). However, plants don't have the ability to break down rocks or organic matter to utilize raw minerals - fungi, bacteria and other microbial life play a mediating role in making these minerals water soluble and available for plants to uptake via capillary action. I would guess that hydroponic plants aren't substantially lacking in any nutrients, but they are grown artificially - human energy is required to make their nutrients. Fungi do the work for us, and build soil which is like a savings account of biological potential for plants.
There might be something like phytonutrients attained by the interaction itself, in other words the plant had to work to get what it needed instead of being spoon fed. This goes for whichever type of fertilizer was used. I myself don't use any fertilizer but the veggies are just for my use so a smaller size doesn't matter. Also, for veggies it's about bacteria more than fungi, and maybe you can find a product...here we go, in my catalog there's Plant XL which is "a liquid mixture of living soil bacteria, trace elements, and humic and fulvic acids." Certified organic.
As Project Malus comments in their answer, fungi, and spores, and bacteria, are always present. It's impossible to completely exclude them. So what you will find in hydroponic plants, and farms, is an effort to exclude just those that are recognised as deleterious. The rest, unseen and possibly unknown, but present, continue to be present and to act as they always have.
@@spiralx6249 I hope you are right!
Wholeheartedly enjoyable. I nurtured a fascination with marine invertebrates and ecosystems early in my career and find many points of agreement and interest in the field of mycology. This knowledge also forms the basis for my economic model. Thank you.
This was truly fascinating. By far the best interviewee you have enticed onto your show. Now I need to acquire a copy of “Entangled Life”.
Great fun 😀 Thank you Freddie & Melvin.
It’s always good to put the word “politics” before the word “fungi”.
I loved every minute of this.
His voice is perfect for the topic. Fantastic book, fantastic subject. Cant suggest anyone else for you to interview, I’m afraid you peaked here.
You should definitely invite Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi. A vocal corona critic from Germany who gets ignored and censored. Angela Spelsberg should be interesting too, she studied in Harvard and is another epidemiologist critical of the measures.
I love fungi! Thank you for the video. The manner of Merlin's speech, the look of some facial features, especially his eyes, and his scientific wonder, exploration, and intelligence reminds me of Rupert Sheldrake and I am wondering if Merlin is his son or if they are related. EDITED: I read the comments and realized Rupert must be his father. Very inspiring family. To encourage joy of learning in whatever fields their children and each other are passionate.
Top tip: Watch videos before commenting.
Love these interviews - so edifying and entertaining!
Smart questions, smart answers - great!
I‘ve learned so much from this channel, amazing .
What a great guest... thanks guys. Super awesome to hear other fields getting involved into the discussion.
The Sheldrakes are a wonderfull gift to the world
Fascinating. Really excellent conversation facilitated by Freddie.
He's SO interesting
Fascinating topic ! Thanks Freddie!
Thank you so much for the clear sighted wisdom that you express..fells likes food for the Soul! May your words be heard by the many...!
Excellent insightful discussion as always. Thanks 😊
Great stuff thanks for this , looking forward to picking up the book!
I have read his fathers books and massively enjoyed them. Incredibly thought provoking.
Underestimated group. No fungi, no forests! Absolutely essential to life. We have only a handful of mycologists in tbe UK (taxonomy & systematics really low on experts across the board as not generally taught anymore in universities). Havent read the book yet, but hope its as good as appears.
I struugle to understand some of this , but am in awe all the same. Freddie and Merlin would make a better job of running the world than the current batch of detached, inentangled muppets. Thank you Freddie, what a great way to start a day.
Very cool. Always great guests
Regarding morphic resonance, in addition to fungus in ants clothing.. Cordyceps also like to wear beetles! There was a great episode of "Stuff to blow your mind podcast" on the history of mushroom foraging!
BTW, regarding how plants are also tribal.. they will help those similar, before other types, it seems shedding it from human-nature will be difficult!
Thank you to the sheldrake family
Excellent!
Great book, great clarity. Thanks guys
Another excellent interview.
Thank you. Brilliant.
that ant story is the scariest story i have heard in a long time
I've never seen Freddy so enamored of a guest. Has he finally met his match? :)
When I first saw this new video post I didn’t think it would be interesting. Boy was I wrong. Thanks both.
Watching these guys talk about fungi is very relaxing. I'm transported into The Dune-like world of subterranean networks of burrowing fungi. Why am I listening to this? No idea. I'm hypnotised with this guy's idiosyncratic obsession. He could easily start a cult and preach the gospel of the fungi. He certainly has the looks and the demeanour for it.
Do you know his dad? You will understand.
@@katapilaro1823 No I don't.
Cool interview, loved Merlin's book!
Michael Yeadon on Talk Radio had a lot to say.....An absolute must
Marvelous!!!
Excellent answers ! Really enlightening summarisation of the realtionship found in nature.
One of the important or rather central points that the interviewee is making is that from a biological sustainability perspective it is not a biological individual that makes life work in all its complexity, but the visible and invisible, tangible and intangible, and concrete and abstract relationships that are formed between countless biological individuals, that are the motive force of all the activities within and outside cellular structures that make up the symphony of life. If we become aware of this reality, i.e. we are not kicking and thriving because we have some special abilities within us (in the Darwinian sense), but because of the symbiotic, rather assistive help of the microbial world, which in turn goes through its life-cycle assisted by plants and vegetations, and vice-versa, then we would find ourselves relating differently (sensitively, intimately) to the ecological base we are unintentionally eroding.
It is not often that I one comes across such rigorously dialectical and humanistically scientific formulation of a complex subject like the relationship between microbial world and the world at large, in such simple and everyday language, without the use of jargons. A very artistic presentation!
Great interview. Fungi are fun. I have always been curious about how fungi & other organisms like lichens and algae are so intertwined.
Pleasure for ears, always!
I found this topic and interview quite interesting and educational. I was a "conservationist" before most people knew what it meant growing up on a farm and watching erosion from wind and water take away so much good soil. The plants and animals need each other obviously but this offers an in-depth explanation of how close and intimate that relationship is.
I read his book. It was great and nicely illustrated.
On a side note. "Merlin Sheldrake" has to be one of the most British names possible. lol
THANK YOU
This was great! It shows the exact difference between the person who studies physical world observation ( true definition of scientist) philosophy of science (phd) and the supposed administrative 'scientist' who gets all the attention and is given all the credit of understanding and being 'right' when they are truly those who completely mis understand science studies...government specialists.
Really like Rupert Sheldrake and I’ve seen Merlins fungi book. Very interesting talk thanks
Beautiful and brilliant Merlin 💖 “fungi are promiscuous” fucking love you man 🙏
Nicely paced and most enjoyable interview. I always suspected that 2016 UK referendum was a fungal event ... :)) Thanks.
Fantastic subject. Terrain vs germ theories of medicine
Fascinating
He has elegant hands and gestures.
Just read the book. Really fascinating man.
Best. Name. Ever.
That was a fantastic interview with really exceptional individual. I’d love to see Jackson Katz in conversation.
Beautifull people, both of you!!
This should be on a podcast
Freddy, the BEST journalist worldwide. Smart and handsome. How is it possible 😍😍
Merlin you are blessed with multifaceted brilliance...oh man, work it hard.. We need Help.
I think alot of what is discussed here in part demonstrates how Western Science (and the individual-focussed ideology in which its embedded) seems to have a hard time understanding and articulating the cooperative / mutually dependent relationships that natural science continues to observes in nature). However, these ideas do seem to join up very well with the relational-focussed philosophy, theory, and thought of American Indigenous cultures. I recomend this book for an interesting read that thoroughly discusses this view, as well as critiques these aspects of Western beliefs and knowledge: Pierotti, Raymond. Indigenous Knowledge, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, 2010
There is a guest that will be very interesting is Yanis Yarouvakis, his extensive knowledge in economic can help people
to understand capitalism. and it’s ramifications. He has a wide view of what we are going through right now.
Just a suggestion.
Hi Antinea, we've already had Yanis on the show! Have a watch and let us know what you think: ruclips.net/video/jzd4FA7rbk4/видео.html
Deeply intriguing discussion.
A case of 'As below, so above'?
Well, we could consider individual humans as plants nested in a fungal network. As long as the benefits of being connected to that network are greater than the costs, we remain connected, but as animals, we can go nestle elsewhere if the costs are too great.
This helps me appreciate the magic of fungi even more
Thumbs up for the most decorative middle earth moniker on-line.
this is so cool
I am loving the book so far
Hi any chances of a message inlook on it "What's the interesting view ' can't afford to buy council tax .. Christmas and hope to remember to buy afterwards January ..
Just wonderful and surprising interview. Glad I'm not an ant!
I'd wager young Merlin has been sampling the merchandise.😍
Great. He sounds like a fun guy.
The sheldrake are the coolest family
Lovely inteligent conversation despite the huge amount of diplomacy and indirect questions and answers.
I loved the interview...fascinating ....just like his dad
Do you think that viruses and fungi have anything in common? (RE: some scientists and MDs believe viruses are shed in response to distress in the body, that this a way to communicate a threat to others.) When I first heard this idea I couldn't help but think of how trees communicate exposure to disease and/or distress with other trees. One mode of tree "communication" is to utilize fungal networks to share information. Does this happen in humans with viruses? Hmmmm....
Everything wants power and perhaps humans and fungi share in the way the power is accessed. The key is having an identity that enhances both giving and "taking" or appreciating, by reducing the ego. So the identity of helper or facilitator works in the quest to access more power without getting corrupted by the ego. The model is the fungi because this is what fungi do, they demonstrate what they are and it's up to us to mimic them. Don't forget the air around us is like a soup of spores, pollen, particulates etc, I guess the air has a biology just like the soil.
I wish I can be this articulate someday
I believe in you, A.S.M.! You can...if focus on this goal/desire and put in the appropriate effort necessary to make it reality!
Misty Funk
Wait am I on the internet? Literally the most thoughtful comment online I’ve ever received, thanks ❤️
@@Catofminerva - That is why I am on the internet. We need to support either other, especially now! =)
Good interviewer.