Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Humans display an uncommonly intense epistemic drive-a motivation to understand that extends well beyond immediate survival.The Re-Connection Hypothesis proposes that this drive ultimately guides Homo sapiens to discover and ritually employ N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).Rather than postulating that the brain must "self-flood," we argue that cortical circuitry is pre-tooled-analogous to dormant Wi-Fi hardware-to respond to modest, externally supplied DMT and switch awareness to a non-material information domain we term the Transcendent.Three empirical anchors motivate the model:1. Conserved expression of the DMT-synthesising enzyme INMT across mammals.2. Widespread occurrence of DMT-rich plants. Reproducible network-reset phenomenology at low-moderate exogenous doses.Drawing on signalling-bias pharmacology, receptor-reserve experiments, and ethnobotanical convergences, we articulate testable predictions-including a "low-threshold, high-gain" 5-HT2Acircuit assay-and sketch preregistered study designs.By integrating biochemistry, cognitive neuroscience, and cultural data, we outline a coherent research programme for evaluating possible teleological features of human curiosity. The Epistemic Drive, DMT, and the Re-Connection Hypothesis A Built-in Threshold Model of Transcendent Access
Author: Elias M. Hart
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4410126549