TIL that the Star Trek Stamets character is based on a real world Paul Stamets working on actual Mycelium. Wow

And Anthony Rapp (the actor who plays him) went through some awful stuff that made him famous for another reason and he seems to have come out stronger. Good for him.

As for the whole mycelium plot in Discovery, I found it so ridiculous that I refuse to consider that show canon.

There’s far worse problems with Discovery ;) but really, much of Trek is ridiculous: “we went really fast around a sun and traveled back in time to _exactly_ when we need to be.” Convenient!

Oh of course. Mycelium is just the tip of the iceberg e.g. "Spock had a secret sister." Oh come on!

Yes some Trek scripts are better than others, as are some entire shows. But the creators of Disco seemed like they had never watched a single episode of "real" Trek or understood what made it work.

I thought he lost the case?

TIL that there is a character based off him in Star Trek??

Take stamets research with a grain of salt. He got his start by identifying psychedelic mushrooms as an amateur mycologist. Eventually he defaulted into being a community leader by sticking around long enough with little to no scrutiny.

He does not have a research background but he's gotten good with hype machines. I suspect he may have attached his name to this research but did little to participate otherwise.

Why should I do anything but take your anonymous comment with a huge grain of salt. Is the irony completely lost here?

He uses his rep to hawk overpriced supplements

It's pretty easy to check his Wikipedia and see for your self what his academic background is. You can also read research done specifically by him, if you can find it, and you can read his books and judge for yourself if what he is selling is suspiciously without evidence. Or go to his website hocking "host defense" mushroom capsules.

Compared to an actual mycologist like Gary Lincoff (rip), I think you'll see the contrast to be sharp.

Or don't. No skin off my back.