Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna
Update: 2025-08-18
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Description
Graham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian of transformational events, movements, and figures. His forthcoming book Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, Sep 30, 2025) is the latest among his ten books, which also include Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015). Graham is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK.
Chapters
- (00:00:13 ) - Introduction
- (00:01:38 ) - Early McKenna Brothers’ History
- (00:06:38 ) - Terence’s Rejection of Science & Authority
- (00:09:49 ) - Timewave Zero Theory
- (00:18:10 ) - Limitations & Criticism of Timewave Zero
- (00:22:35 ) - Compressionism & Acceleration of History
- (00:25:59 ) - Possible Modern ‘Transcendental Object’—AI
- (00:28:27 ) - Terence’s Oratory Legacy & Cultural Impact
- (00:33:01 ) - AI Simulations of Terence’s Voice
- (00:40:12 ) - Research Process & Acknowledgements
- (00:41:36 ) - Rick Watson & Early Psychedelic Experiments
- (00:46:49 ) - John Parker’s Influence
- (00:49:03 ) - Unusual Characters from Paonia
- (00:52:25 ) - Telegraph Avenue ‘Salon’
- (00:55:31 ) - Neo Etudiant Newsletter
- (00:59:54 ) - Morning Glory Seeds & Hawaiian Wood Rose as Psychedelics
- (01:03:59 ) - Need for Further Research
- (01:05:03 ) - Writing the Biography During COVID
- (01:06:26 ) - Closing Remarks
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