meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Acid Test: How psychedelics shaped the modern world

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

Politics, Government, Society & Culture, News

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Psychedelic drugs are regularly in the news as a fresh generation of scientists researches them. Who knows how they might be used in future – but, historically, how have they shaped the world already? The negatives of substance use are obvious – but what other impacts are there? From ceremonial plant medicines to the war on drugs; their cultural significance cannot be understated.  Dr Kasia Tomasiewicz is joined in The Bunker by Mike Jay to discuss his new book Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind.  “If you want to know how drugs change your own perception, there’s only one way of doing it.” “Pharmacies would sell products called ‘Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup’ which would be full of morphine and opium.” “Magic Mushrooms were ancient and sacred, people used them for spiritual experiences for millennia.” www.patreon.com/bunkercast Book Link https://yalebooks.co.uk/page/detail/psychonauts/?k=9780300257946 Written and presented by Kasia Tomasiewicz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved

0:05.5

photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.

0:11.8

Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?

0:13.0

I loved going to college.

0:14.0

It's good you can retrain and do something.

0:16.0

Yeah, yeah.

0:17.0

Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.

0:22.0

Phoenix Group is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business.

0:28.0

Search Phoenix Group living longer.

0:30.0

Pets brings so much joy.

0:32.0

From those happy greetings at the door to the warm cuddles on the sofa

0:36.7

so give a little love back with dental life from Purina a range of delicious chues made for dogs and tasty snacks for cats that help clean and support your pets, teeth and gums, essential for their overall well-being and a happy, healthy life. They give you plenty of smiles so

0:55.3

look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome to the bunker with me Dr Kasha Tamaevich. I'm just about old enough to remember being a child

1:15.0

and seeing grubby market stores in Camden advertising a smorgasbord of substances

1:20.0

that promised to alter the body and mind.

1:23.0

More recently, psychedelic seemed to have gone mainstream.

1:26.0

From Prince Harry saying Iowasca helped him to deal with Diana's death

1:30.0

to university spending billions on researching hallucinogenics.

1:35.0

Drugs have done a lot of harm, but they clearly shape the modern world for better or worse.

1:40.4

In his lively new book Psychonauts, Mike Jay traces some of these ups and downs through the West's most influential thinkers,

1:47.5

from psychologists like Zigmund Freud and William James,

1:50.5

to the work of Arthur Conan Doyle and Aldous Huxley.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Podmasters, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Podmasters and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.