And not just any old mycologist, but one who’s very well known in the psychedelic community.

First time I saw Discovery, saw they had Stamets and a “spore-drive” which utilises a discrete subspace domain, I was hyped. A mushroom with “roots” literally everywhere, and that humans can, at least to some degree, connect to this network? Feels rather familiar to most people who’ve tried recreational shrooms, I’m sure.

Also, on a sidenote, Ultima Thule is mentioned in Star Trek: Enterprise as a planet I think in the same episode that they use Iittala’s Ultima Thule glass-collections as “alien” glassware. (Ultima Thule is an old Latin concept for like a mythical land far North, modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, Northern Scotland, the island of Saaremaa.)

I happened to be drinking from an Ultima Thule collection glass when watching the show. So when this scene came on, I looked roughly like Dicaprio in the beer pointing meme. Only with an Ultima Thule glass, ofc.