Psychedelics alter people’s personalities, their politics, and their beliefs about the world. In 2019, the world’s most influential neuroscientist and most influential psychedelic scientist put their heads together. They decided to crack the question of how psychedelics act in the brain to alter the mind. Their conclusion? Psychedelics topple the authoritarian parts of the brain that keep competing brain states and mental states under control. This undoing temporarily creates a situation of anarchy. For people stuck in ways of seeing the world that no longer work for them, a moment’s respite from this dictatorship of the ego can be all that’s needed to create lasting, positive change.