McKenna agreed to become part of an experiment while he was there in taking this substance to see how far the expanses of his mind could be opened. He described being in perfect communication with the divine source of knowledge and enlightenment (known to him as the Source, or by the Greek name, Logos). This experience prompted him to study the ancient philosophies of the King Wen sequence of the IChing and to develop some very controversial theories from it. His first book, "The Invisible Landscape... Mind Hallucinogens and the IChing", written in 1975, was inspired by these readings and experiences. One of these theories discussed is the Novelty theory.

Events such as the discovery of fire and how to use it, creating weaponry for defense, natural disasters, creating machinery to hasten work times, devastating illnesses (such as the Black Plague), higher technology... all fell into a pattern, according to this graph. Kemp and his colleagues took it a step further... taking this graph into the future. In doing so, he found that the speed at which new ideas and concepts comes to a curve... in 2012. The exact date he landed on is up for debate. It is said that he used the bombing of Hiroshima as a point of reference, and he actually hit November of 2012 by his graph's standards... moving it up only after hearing of the Mayan calendar. However, he insisted that the date was December 21, 2012... the same date that the Mayan calendar ends... and he insisted he had no previous knowledge of the Mayan Long Count Calendar at the time.