In the jungle there’s a parasitic fungus that penetrates the exoskeleton of ants. It grows inside their bodies, eating the ant from the inside. Soon the ant is as much fungus as it is ant. Once inside the brain, the fungus modifies the ant’s behavior, making it leave the colony and climb to a leaf overlooking the colony’s path where it grips a leaf with its mandibles to secure a sniper’s perch. After the ant starves to death up there, a stalk emerges from the ant’s brain. The stalk even knows which direction to grow in order to best position itself, before erupting and raining spores down on the ants below.
Sometimes I think a similar parasite has infected humans, one that uses mind control to ascend specific individuals to great heights where their behavioral and idealogical influence rains down on the public.
Notes from the Uncanny Valley 
I’ve had this exact same thought myself. They are the Great Old Ones. Soon to bring us to extinction.
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Lincoln! Good to hear from you! I wish I knew what the MacGuffin was.
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On a sort of more positive note, when considering fungus, it’s ability to radically alter its environment is astounding. Not to mention it’s ability to communicate infraspecies and even interspecies. Anyone who has ingested pscilocybe has experienced this. It’s believed by some to even have extraterrestrial origins. Is it in control of our evolution? Or will it soon kill us all, ala Cryptococcus Gattii? The more I learn about fungus the more it seems the most advanced life form on the planet.
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Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fungi
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