no one even comes close,
yet.

Pesce has tried and, instead reverted to cyber-commentary.

Pinchbeck has tried, but he hasn't the eloquence or vision that approaches Terence's.

Even Denis (Terence's brother) has offered some interesting, albeit more scholarly than bard-like, commentary on the role of plant medicines.

Perhaps no one person has risen as an heir apparent to McKenna's visionary role, but perhaps no one person is necessary. For one thing, Terence's talks continue to inspire, provoke, and guide many people who are just now discovering his hours upon hours of talks and lectures around the internet. For another thing, perhaps a leader, visionary, or guide is not what is needed (anymore), but rather a concerted effort on the part of communities formed around the ideas and insights shared over a decade ago. Say something once, why say it again?

No, the exciting work these days, to my mind, has been in the slow but methodical revivification of scientific and clinical scrutiny of these plant medicines. Individuals like Rick Strassman, Charles Grob, Alexander Shulgin, Stanislav Grof, Rick Doblin, and others work to rebuild a rightful acceptance and respect for these chemicals and substances which, many believe, may be the catalyst for the collective raising of consciousness this planet so desperately needs.

wade davis is amazing ... different but on the same level

I've thought of this a lot - his torch sits on the ground still burning, waiting for someone to take it up

look's like Hillary's gonna have some time on her hands, maybe she can take up the torch? Wouldn't that be weird as hell, pull a link to a site where where Hillary's lecturing an assembled group in the benefits of entheogens?

id like to see a woman inspire us in such a profoundly intellectual and metaphysical way ;)

Yeah, interesting thing to bring up. In a sense, Terence provided a nice contrast to the stadium filling, cast your cares to the wind and drop acid leary. His style was definitely more gentle, and wide ranging, although both provided a nice new vocabulary of ideas. As I was listening to a terence lecture, he mentions, about his talks, that they are a statement on the state of the union, yes, I thought, in a way, he was the psychedelic president, he was a leader of a cultural group, and one that I could get behind, or at least one that I'm very willing to pay attention to. And I have been thinking about who is there to fill his grandiose shoes. Who could? One thing about psychedelics is that they create such unique characters, he was so unique that I don't think anyone could succeed him in his own manner, but one who sort of explains, guides, directs,
a psychedelic mentality, and provides incisive cultural commentary, I think could achieve this in many different ways. When I met Daniel Pinchbeck in Durham, I mentioned to him that I thought it was interesting that he considered himself to be sort of taking the place of terence mckenna, the psychedelic spokesperson, or the alien ambassador or whatever. Although I like daniel, and I like his book, and I feel that he's representative of a more contemporary culture than terence in a way, and younger that mark pesce also, I don't think he could hold a candle to terence's mental glow. I'm not saying he's dim at all, it's just that terence was and is one of the few people who I can say, I am really interested in. He really impressed me. And he still does. He's one of the very few that I feel like I could learn from them. I don't really feel that way about Daniel, although he is somewhat interesting and I'm glad he's doing what he's doing. Yes terence was truly exceptional.
Was it all the mushrooms and dmt? I wonder. Mark Pesce has said some interesting things and is also very intelligent, but I don't feel his character has reached the unfoldment that terence did, whatever that means. One meme I take from Mark Pesce is the concept of moving into the future with a guarded optimism, and the mimicry of biological systems in preparation for a nanotech world. It's funny how Dennis Mckenna makes a big point that he's not his brother, and he sure isn't. He said terence could read the phonebook and people would be interested, but he's someone different. I don't know. Even terence said, that there's got to be people out there who can describe this stuff as well or better than he but they sure don't show up. I agree, I think there are people out there on his level of description and intellect, but they may not come out for whatever reason. Daniel Pinchbeck and Mark Pesce aren't bad. I'd like to at least try to do what terence did, in terms of simply facilitating dialogue on the significance of psychedelic experiences with my friends, and I think about the socratic method of learning through dialogue that he talked about and practiced. Oh well, at least I can listen to him on my ipod whenever I want.

Erik Davis aka Elf was a close friend of TM's, recorded the last interview with him, is an excellent speaker and to top it off, check out this synchronistic photo taken of him lecturing at Burning Man 2003 where he is in the exact same pose as the photo of TM on the platform that he's lecturing from!
harlanemil.com/bman2003/elf.html

I thought it was sort-of misguided for Terrence to have been called Leary's successor by some....
so I think it would be equally innaccurate to label someone else as such to Terrence.

Dennis is his own incredible person and although I wish I heard more references to Dennis and
"the McKenna Brothers" - It is my understanding (I think i read it somewhere, but no source)
that Dennis' much lower-profile life was completely his own decision and that they each agreed that
the other WAS the best suited for the type of endeavors they were each involved in.

Im glad that since the 60's, the number of people available to expound upon these things has exploded.

no one could ever replace Leary, Terrence, or Dennis...
and I think Dennis is his own right should be recognized for the unique pioneer he is BEFORE we no longer have him.