
One of the pleasures of working on TTBOOK is the chance to take a deep dive into a subject that fascinates us. Sometimes, we simply can’t cover this in a single hour, so we’ll do a series, like Going for Broke, that stretches over consecutive weeks. Or produce a series of shows, airing every few months, that examines a complicated idea from new perspectives, as we’re doing with Deep Time.
Some years ago, I started tracking the psychedelic revival. I discovered that it brought together several of my longtime interests: debates about the nature of consciousness, the science of well-being, mystical experience, and the history of the counterculture. As I’ve explored this subject through dozens of interviews, I keep stumbling onto unexpected stories (and this is one subject that lends itself to falling down rabbit holes!). I’ve talked to a historian who believes the ancient Greeks used psychedelic beer in their sacred rituals; a neuroscientist who’s given MDMA (aka ecstasy) to octopuses; and a philosopher who thinks psychedelics can unlock different dimensions of reality. These are long interviews that never aired on the radio, but you’ll find them in our separate podcast feed about the science and philosophy of psychedelics. It’s called Luminous.
You’ll also hear some of our interviews about psychedelics on the radio. This week we’re re-airing our show about how psychedelic therapy is used to treat the fear of dying. I interviewed Roland Griffiths - the scientist who was arguably the most important psychedelic researcher of our time - shortly after his own terminal cancer diagnosis. He died nine months later. It’s one interview I’ll never forget.
– Steve