[Read my book at RedactedScience.org. This chapter is only in gitbook, so far]
Plants and fungi have co-evolved for over 400 million years. In that time, plants developed defense compounds — terpenes, polyphenols, flavonoids — many of which double as chemical messengers in animals. These include: Cannabinoid-like molecules Immune modulators Neurological softeners Fungi, particularly those like Candida, didn’t just survive near these compounds — they learned to time their life cycle around them. Terpenes could calm the host, suppress inflammation, and create the ideal conditions for slow fungal expansion. So the fungus evolved not in isolation — but in a chemically choreographed ecosystem where plants did part of the suppression work for them.
🦠 Fungal Pattern Recognition Over time, fungi developed the equivalent of chemical pattern recognition: When the air or host environment was rich in certain terpenes, they waited. When inflammation was quieted, they expanded. When CB1/CB2-like signaling was dominant, they migrated deeper — knowing the immune system had been softened. The fungus didn’t just survive — it learned from plant logic and hijacked mammalian receptors that evolved in the same chemical soup.
🧠 Then Came the Mammals Mammals evolved within this ancient dance. Their endocannabinoid systems didn’t emerge from nowhere — they mirrored chemical pressures already present in the environment. The receptors we carry (CB1, CB2, TRPV1, GPR55) respond to the same ligands plants and fungi have trafficked in for millennia. By the time Homo sapiens emerged, the system was already primed: Plant molecules had a calming, suppressive effect Fungi waited for that shift to trigger their own response We inherited both, unaware we were stepping into an ancient two-step
🧬 The Methylation Lock-In
Imagine the fascination ancient humans would’ve had with a plant that could sedate pain, still the mind, dull hunger, ease tension, and even trigger visions. For an emerging intelligence — barely self-aware, newly social, and physiologically fragile — the effects would’ve felt like magic. Not a poison. A door.
If plant signals open the gate and fungi learn the pattern — methylation is what closes the loop.
Recent studies have shown that cannabis use itself can trigger DNA methylation — subtle, long-lasting changes in how genes behave, without touching the genetic code. To be clear, this doesn’t mean ancient humans were smoking marijuana. It means that ancient cannabinoid-producing plants — of which cannabis is just one modern example — may have influenced our biology in similar ways. These plants produced molecules that affected the brain, the immune system, and the endocrine system, potentially setting the stage for long-term gene regulation.
Imagine the fascination ancient man would have with a plant that has the effects of THC and more?
It’s not science fiction anymore: marijuana — the form we recognize today — doesn’t just make you feel different for a few hours. It may flip biological switches that stay changed, even after you stop using it.
To put it plainly: your genes are like instructions. Methylation is like blacking out lines with a marker. The code is still there, but your body starts skipping the parts it needs. When cannabis or terpenes are in the system — especially over time — this blackout effect can build up. Now combine that with a fungus watching for that exact state to make its move.
What begins as temporary chemical softness becomes something much harder to undo. It gets written into the margins.
Methylation doesn’t change the DNA code — it changes what gets expressed. And fungi appear to operate in ways that induce long-term methylation shifts in immune genes, endocrine regulation, even metabolic tone.
This turns a passing chemical state into a persistent behavioral and physiological state — one that outlasts the trigger. Even after the fungus retreats, the body continues behaving as if it were still under its influence.
Plants softened us.
Fungi studied us.
Methylation encoded us.
Methylation doesn’t change the DNA code — it changes what gets expressed. And fungi appear to operate in ways that induce long-term methylation shifts in immune genes, endocrine regulation, even metabolic tone.
This turns a passing chemical state into a persistent behavioral and physiological state — one that outlasts the trigger. Even after the fungus retreats, the body continues behaving as if it were still under its influence.
Plants softened us. Fungi studied us. Methylation encoded us.
🔺 The Coevolutionary Triangle
This isn’t metaphor. This is a regulatory model. And we may have been born into it.
🧩 Final Reflection This isn’t a war between one host and one invader. It’s a choreography older than thought: The plant calms. The fungus waits. The genome adjusts. This means these three things — plant, fungus, and methylation — don’t just influence us. They work together to drive evolution. For all parties. We didn’t invent this loop. We just fell into it. Maybe we weren’t the first hosts. Maybe we were the first ones to think we were alone.