Psychedelic Apes From Parallel Universes to Atomic Dinosaurs – the Weirdest Theories of Science and History

by Boese, Alex

• ISBN13: 9781509860524
• ISBN10: 1509860525
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2020-11-01
• Publisher: Pan

Summary

What if we’re living inside a black hole? What if we’ve already found extraterrestrial life? What if the dinosaurs died in a nuclear war? What if Jesus Christ was actually a mushroom? Psychedelic Apes delves into the curious scientific subculture of weird theories. Thoroughly bizarre and contrary to the established norm, these ideas are often vehemently rejected by the intellectual community. From the creation of the universe to the evolution of humans, the birth of civilization right through to our more recent past, Psychedelic Apes explores some of the craziest ideas from science and history and shows that, sometimes, even the weirdest theories may be proved true.

Author Biography

Alex Boese holds a master’s degree in the history of science from the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Elephants on Acid, Electrified Sheep and Hippo Eats Dwarf as well as being the creator and curator of the online Museum of Hoaxes. He is also a daily contributor to the WeirdUniverse website. He lives near San Diego.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1. COSMOLOGICAL CONUNDRUMS 9
What if the Big Bang never happened? 11
Weird became true: radio astronomy 22
What if our universe is actually a computer simulation? 27
What if there’s only one electron in the universe? 35
What if we’re living inside a black hole? 43
Weird became true: dark matter 51
What if we live forever? 55

2. A PALE BLUE PECULIAR DOT 65
What if the Earth is at the centre of the universe? 67
What if planets can explode? 74
Weird became true: the heliocentric theory 85
What if our solar system has two suns? 90
Weird became true: continental drift 98
What if ten million comets hit the Earth every year? 103
What if the Earth is expanding? 111

3. IT’S ALIVE! 121
What if everything is conscious? 123
What if diseases come from space? 131
141 Weird became plausible: the vent hypothesis
146 What if the Earth contains an inexhaustible supply of oil and gas?
156 What if alien life exists on Earth?
163 Weird became (partially) true: the Gaia hypothesis
170 What if we’ve already found extraterrestrial life?

179 4. THE RISE OF THE PSYCHEDELIC APE
181 What if the dinosaurs died in a nuclear war?
190 What if our ancestors were aquatic apes?
199 Weird became true: the out-of-Africa theory
204 What if we’re descended from a pig–chimp hybrid?
213 What if hallucinogenic drugs made us human?
221 Weird became true: cave art
225 What if humanity is getting dumber?

233 5. MUSHROOM GODS AND PHANTOM TIME
235 What if ancient humans were directed by hallucinations?
245 Weird became plausible: beer before bread
250 What if Homer was a woman?
258 What if Jesus was a mushroom?
268 Weird became true: ancient Troy
273 What if Jesus was Julius Caesar?
282 What if the Early Middle Ages never happened?
291 Epilogue

293 Acknowledgements
295 Bibliography