Super Woke Fungi

As I explained in an earlier blog post this week, I’ve become rather addicted to PBS’s Nova program.  There are definitely far worse things to be addicted to.  I mean, I used to smoke, for Pete’s sake.  Ugh.

As I’m a tree lover, last night I chose “The Secrets of the Forest,” Season 52 Episode 8 (from just last year, 2025).  It was fantastic.  It was many things, including a personal look at a tree and fungi researcher and how he nearly lost his career by people misinterpreting “plant more trees” advice rather than the REAL thing: Support More Established Forest Ecosystems with Many Species Living Together.

This researcher, Tom Crowther, started his scientific life as a researcher in fungi, and it’s THIS I want to focus on today. Because there’s a grand metaphor in here about, well, us.  (Beyond the striking likeness of a tree’s biology and a human’s, I mean.)  

Here’s the thing (and you can watch this starting at 22:00 in the linked video): When researchers at Yale put two different types of fungi in a petri dish, they competed and one would be victorious.  But, when you put THREE types of fungi in a petri dish, the third would side with the weaker of the other two, to take on the strongest–thereby ensuring a collaborative existence with no losers, no winners.

They kept adding other types, and the same thing would happen: two in opposition, a war.  Three or more fighting for the same resources, collaboration and all survive.

We are currently living in a political world where Democracy is fighting for survival against creeping fascism, led by an insipid narcissist and an entire party too cowardly to speak.  They view anything non-confrontational as “woke” and emasculating.

So, collaborative fungi that build a forest ecosystem (an established forest’s ecosystem is trees, soil, fungi, insects, birds, and animals–including homo sapiens) would be SuperWoke.

And I think that’s exactly what we need: SuperWokeness.

Collaborate (even though I hate group projects because I’m a control freak) and help each other’s quality of life along. We need to stop competing and start, well, putting down our rocks and developing ways of ensuring mutual existence.  (As a child growing up in the 70s and 80s, I much prefer this to the balancing act of mutual destruction; I’m looking at you, Cold War.)

I’m not Christian, but I respect Jesus of the New Testament (I minored in Religious Studies), and I know it would be His view.  Sermon on the Mount backs that up.  Nearly every religion on Earth (and maybe some out there in other galaxies) have the basic tenet of not putting ourselves and our selfish needs above anyone else’s existence. 

We need to think like a fungus!  

Stand up for the little guy. Trade nutrients until we’re all strong.  Look at the Big Picture (a healthy ecosystem that becomes the lungs of the planet). 

Which is stronger?  A system where one species devours another, or one where several species diversify and use their individual strengths together to build?

Just…don’t eat the deathcaps.  Just sayin’.