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

“As you read these words, fungi are changing the way life happens, as they have done for more than a billion years.”

Fungi are one of the oldest organisms on earth. For millions of years they have constantly interacted with nearly every other species on earth. With very few exceptions, all life has been influenced in some way by fungi.

“Whether one calls slime molds, fungi, and plants ‘intelligent’ depends on one’s point of view.”

Sheldrake explains that fungi blur the line between “intelligent” and nonsentient organisms. Fungal intelligence cannot be compared to human or animal intelligence, as fungi do not have literal brains. This does not mean, though, that they do not display their own form of sapience. Fungi display seemingly conscious decisions, complex communication, and intentional choices.

“Fungi roll us toward the edge of many questions. This book comes from my experience of peering over some of these edges.”

Throughout the book, Sheldrake hopes to impart how incredibly world-changing the impact of fungal studies might be. Fungi lead researchers to profound questions about individuality, intelligence, sexuality, evolution, etc. When one begins to view life from a fungal point of view, long-accepted norms begin to disappear.

“We are ill-equipped to participate in the chemical language of fungi, but ripe truffles speak a language so piercing and simple that even we can understand it.”

This passage is an example of how Sheldrake uses anthropomorphism to paint a picture of how fungi behave. Truffles are the first fungi thoroughly discussed in the book, because they are one of the simplest to understand. The intense smell that truffles use to lure animals has led to a long history of humans finding, competing over, and trying to cultivate them.

“When we humanize the world, we may prevent ourselves from understanding the lives of other organisms on their own terms.”

Although he often uses descriptive comparisons from human life to write about fungi, Sheldrake warns against applying human rules to fungi directly. By centering humans in discussions of other organisms, it is easy to overlook the unique attributes that those organisms possess that make them well suited for their particular ways of life. It also carries the risk of misunderstanding, as evidenced by the fact that the discovery that lichens were symbiotic organisms was rejected for decades because it went against human conceptions of individualism and competition.

“Imagine that you could pass through two doors at once. It’s inconceivable, yet fungi do it all the time.”

Fungal hyphae are able to branch at will, allowing them to explore complex structures quickly. This is an extremely beneficial adaptation, as it allows fungal bodies to take on whatever shape is most beneficial to them. Once again, Sheldrake compares human and fungal properties to highlight the uniqueness and importance of a fungal attribute.

“Mycelium is polyphony in bodily form.”

This quote follows a passage about a group of indigenous West African women who sing a wandering, polyphonic song as they walk through the forest looking for mushrooms. Sheldrake likens the song to the fungi themselves, which feature branching mechanisms that do not have one central part but many parts that all depend on each other to create a cohesive whole.

“To this day, lichens confuse our concept of identity and force us to question where one organism stops and another begins.”

Lichens are the ultimate expression of symbiosis. In many cases, they involve several organisms living cooperatively together. Despite being made up of many parts, lichens are considered distinct species. Lichen growths display distinct attributes that would not exist if one of their constituent parts disappeared, but they are not strictly individual organisms.

“Lichens are places where an organism unravels into an ecosystem and where an ecosystem congeals into an organism.”

This quote builds on the previous passage. Lichens contain entire ecosystems, yet they are usually considered individual organisms. In reality, they are somewhere in between. They may even show that the discrete concepts of “organism” and “ecosystem” are unfounded—instead, everything is connected in a mutually dependent network of organisms.

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

Not only do fungi have a long history of interacting with sentient beings, but their omnipresence and the fact that they predate sapient life means that they have impacted our evolution. This passage introduces the discussion of mind-altering fungi, which can be found throughout the world. In addition to animals, fungi have also commonly been shown to influence insect minds.

“Whether or not fungi actually speak through humans and occupy our senses, the impact of psilocybin mushrooms on our thoughts and beliefs is real enough.”

It is somewhat unlikely that psychedelic mushrooms actually control the human mind in the same way that some fungi control insect bodies. Sheldrake doesn’t think this matters, however. Psilocybin’s influence on the human mind is undeniably strong, and the mushrooms may have helped shape the earliest human cultures.

“It was only by striking up relationships with fungi that algae were able to make it onto land.”

Plants, which descended from algae, have been dependent on fungi for their entire history. The fungi manipulated plants to grow larger and stronger to provide fungi with nutrients through photosynthesis.

“If all grass is fungus, and all flesh is grass, does it follow that all flesh is fungus?”

“All flesh is grass” is an Old Testament phrase (Isaiah 40:6-8) meant to convey that all human life is temporary. Sheldrake expands this metaphor, speculating that all living things may ultimately be fungus: As things decompose, they are overtaken by fungi, which break organic matter down into soil.

“In all physical systems, energy moves ‘downhill,’ from where there is more to where there is less.”

Energy transfer systems in mycelial networks are a hotly debated subject. The one solid rule is that nutrients and other types of energy move from areas of surplus to areas of scarcity.

“Plant-centric perspectives can distort.”

When the “wood wide web” is viewed from a plant’s perspective, the fungal networks appear to be static cables, existing only to shuttle food and information between plants. This is not true; fungi are dynamic, living organisms in their own right, which build the networks to suit their own needs. Sheldrake posits that if any organism is in charge of the network, it is fungi.

“How best to think about shared mycorrhizal networks then? Are we dealing with a superorganism? A metropolis? A living Internet? Nursery schools for trees? Socialism in the soil? Deregulated markets of late capitalism, with fungi jostling on the trading floor of a forest stock exchange? Or maybe it’s fungal feudalism, with mycorrhizal overlords presiding over the lives of their plant laborers for their own ultimate benefit. All are problematic.”

Human biases have long influenced the way we view plant-fungi interactions. When it comes to mycorrhizal networks, researchers often attempt to apply human principles to plant-fungi social dynamics. All of these possibilities may hold elements of the truth, but all are overly simplified.

“Are we able to stand back, look at the system, and let the polyphonic swarms of plants and fungi and bacteria that make up our homes and our worlds be themselves, and quite unlike anything else?”

Instead of trying to view fungal networks within the context of the human world, Sheldrake believes that the most productive method of fungal research is to realize that the systems are nothing like anything humans have created. Doing this is the only way to appreciate the true complexity and grandeur of these systems.

“With much of life on Earth threatened by human activity, are there ways we can partner with fungi to help us adapt?”

Radical mycology aims to use fungi to help ecosystems adapt to human intervention, as well as cure some of the damage that has already been done. This appears to be feasible due to fungi’s incredible adaptability and diversity.

“It is no great surprise that the mess humans have made may look like an opportunity from a fungal perspective.”

Fungi have thrived in periods of environmental stress, as they can adapt to live in nearly every environment. They are one of the only organisms to have not only survived but thrived during every mass extinction event in earth’s history. Thus, it stands to reason that they may be able to help mitigate the damage caused by humans in recent centuries.

“The fungi that share the most intimate history with humans are yeasts.”

Yeasts have coexisted with humans for as long as we have existed, living on our skin and in our bodies in tight symbiotic relationships. They were also one of the first organisms to be cultivated by early humans, who used them to brew alcohol and make bread.

“Yeasts are microscopic, which makes it easy for a thick narrative sediment to build up around their lives.”

Sheldrake uses this kind of nature-based metaphor throughout the book. This passage introduces a discussion of yeast-related legends and theories. The “sediment” metaphor reflects the sediment found in fermented alcoholic products, which results from yeast.

“Today, the study of shared mycorrhizal networks is one of the fields most commonly beset with political baggage.”

As reflected in Quote 14, beliefs about human history and political systems can warp researchers’ interpretations of the wood wide web. Often, people seek to apply what they believe to be a “natural” state of being to mycorrhizal networks, in an attempt to convey that their particular preferred system is the “right” way to exist.

“A plant’s involvement in one of the most significant theoretical breakthroughs in the history of Western thought was being affirmed and denied at the same time. Out of this ambiguity grew actual trees, with actual apples, that fell to the ground and rotted into a pungent alcoholic mess.”

This passage reflects the story of Newton’s apple tree, which is both embraced and rejected by the scientific community. Regardless of the veracity of how Newton really conceived of the force of gravity, the story that an apple fell on his head has prompted the growth of several cloned and revered apple trees, which now produce real fruit on which live real fungi.