One of the great pleasures of working on To the Best of Our Knowledge is the eclectic nature of the show. Each week we get to explore a new subject, so in one episode we’ll examine the crisis in journalism and the next week we’ll unpack the many dimensions of geometry with a world-class mathematician. But every so often we’ll take a deep dive into a particular subject because a single hour just isn’t enough. That’s the reason I wanted to produce Luminous, our multi-hour series about the science and culture of psychedelics. The subject touches on some of my deepest interests, including mystical experience and different theories of consciousness. This week, we’re digging into the complicated ethics of how drug companies have appropriated – and in some cases, stolen – the indigenous knowledge of plant medicines to create a billion-dollar psychedelic industry.
What you may not know is that we’re also releasing podcast-only episodes in our Luminous podcast feed. These are extended interviews – typically 35-40 minutes – with major figures in the psychedelic world. We’ve talked with a neuroscientist who’s given MDMA to octopuses; a scholar who’s written a cultural history of intoxicants going back two centuries; and an expert on ancient languages who spent a dozen years investigating the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he believes helped shape the origins of Christianity. These are fascinating stories that add context to the psychedelic renaissance that’s now emerging. So if you haven’t already done so, I hope you’ll subscribe to the Luminous podcast feed.
– Steve