Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
techhub.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A hub primarily for passionate technologists, but everyone is welcome

Administered by:

Server stats:

4.6K
active users

techhub.social: AboutStatusProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.4.3

#indigenousknowledge

1 post1 participant0 posts today
Levka

#DMT #history #IndigenousKnowledge

"So, not only was ayahuasca powered by DMT, but was also, as William Burroughs had speculated, a true pharmacological technology, exploiting the synergistic interaction between the constituent harmala and tryptamine alkaloids.

Naturally, this immediately raised questions as to how the Indigenous peoples of South America, without any knowledge of the underlying biochemistry, could possibly have discovered, from the tens of thousands of plant species that filled the rain forests, that combining this particular pair of plants, neither of which produced any significant psychoactive effects when consumed orally alone, would elicit one of the most profound visionary experiences produced by any substance.

It seemed almost miraculous in its implausibility, with ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott later calling it 'conceivably the most sophisticated pharmacognostical discovery ever made in the archaic world.'

Since some groups still prepare a decoction using the caapi vine alone—with limited visionary effects—it’s likely that this potent synergistic combination was discovered after a long period of trial and error, with different plants added and tested over perhaps hundreds of years. Eventually, the minimal binary decoction of the caapi vine plus chacruna or chacropanga was discovered.

This in no way detracts from the brilliance of the discovery, but if anything, demonstrates the Indigenous people’s tenacity in developing this technology over many centuries, such was its value in making the Hidden Ones visible. A technology of this importance was worth the effort."

lithub.com/natures-strangest-p

Literary Hub · Nature’s Strangest Psychedelic is Everywhere: The Ever-Surprising History of DMTFor both the McKenna brothers, ethnobotanist Terence and ethnopharmacologist Dennis, and for anyone else with the courage and respiratory fortitude to hold a couple of lungfuls of its vapor in thei…
purescience_news

Indigenous calendars could make solar power more efficient #Science #TechnologyandEngineering #SolarPower #IndigenousKnowledge #Sustainability
purescience.news/article?id=93

Pure Science NewsIndigenous calendars could make solar power more efficientA truly sustainable future requires solar power, but trying to consistently maximize the energy harvested by panel arrays remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges. Unlike fossil fuels, solar power yields are dictated by the complex interplay of weather and atmospheric variables, as well as the sun’s own activity. This means it’s basically impossible to craft a universal prediction model, so localized solar forecast systems are a necessity. While machine learning technology has significantly improved today’s forecast models, there is still a lot of room for improvement. But an artificial intelligence program is only as good as the data used to train it—and according to researchers at Australia’s Charles Darwin University, it’s tough to find a better solar forecasting dataset than First Nation seasonal calendars. Their new approach is detailed in a study published in the IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society. Present-day non-Indigenous cultures generally divide the year into four seasons, but that’s not the case for many past and present Indigenous communities. Solar calendars like the Aztecs’ were accurate enough to guide farming practices that fed millions of people, for example. In Australia, the people of the Tiwi Islands use a three-season calendar based on their local ecological knowledge. Darwin’s Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) community recognizes seven principle seasons, while the Kunbarlanja (Gunbalanya) and Ngurrungurrudjba of the Northern Territory also possess nuanced calendars of their own. “These calendars are closely tied to weather patterns and seasons. The deep understanding of local climate in these calendars enables First Nations people to make informed resource management and sustainability decisions,” the study’s authors explain. “As climate change affects weather patterns, knowledge of these calendars becomes crucial for adapting to environmental challenges.” Additionally, unlike conventional calendar systems, Australia’s Indigenous cultures base their seasonal classifications on local ecological cues. These include plant and animal behaviors that closely relate to shifting sunlight and weather patterns. With this in mind, the team broke down information into various datapoints from the Tiwi, Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia), Kunwinjku, and Ngurrungurrudjba First Nations calendars, along with a modern calendar known as Red Centre. Researchers then entered their First Nations Seasonal Metrics (FNS-Metrics) dataset into a novel machine learning model designed to detect large-scale patterns. From there, they tested the system against past solar power and weather information collected by the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre (DKASC) in Alice Springs. The results were striking: the First Nations Seasonal Metrics vastly outperformed many of today’s leading forecasting models. Compared to an already strong baseline model, the First Nations data were 14.6 percent more accurate while reducing the error rate by 26.2 percent—less than half the error rate of existing forecasting programs. “Incorporating First Nations seasonal knowledge into solar power generation predictions can significantly enhance accuracy by aligning forecasts with natural cycles that have been observed and understood for thousands of years,” said Luke Hamlin, a CDU Ph.D candidate and study co-author who is also a member of eastern Australia’s Bundjulang nation. Hamlin added that integrating Indigenous knowledge into predictive models can more closely tailor a system to reflect the more nuanced shifts in environmental conditions. This offers “more precise and culturally informed forecasting” for individual regions. The team says this strategy is also particularly promising for rural communities already home to larger First Nation communities. These same places could benefit the most from additional solar farms. And the approach isn’t just limited to solar power. “In future work we’ll explore the applications of the model to other regions and renewable energy sources,” said Thuseethan Selvarajah, a CDU information technology lecturer and study co-author. The post Indigenous calendars could make solar power more efficient appeared first on Popular Science.
Mojo ♻️

New research shows Easter Island wasn’t as isolated as once thought—its ancient people were deeply connected with other Polynesian cultures. Oral history meets hard science, and the story only grows richer.

#polynesia #easterisland #archaeology #indigenousknowledge #historymatters
#RapaNui

popularmechanics.com/science/a

Popular Mechanics · A New Study Has Upended One of Easter Island’s Greatest MythsBy Michael Natale
Willow 🏳️‍⚧️🏴🇵🇸

I got this book recommendation when I was complaining about finding only western views of the night skies, even from the southern hemisphere.

I am about an hour into the book and can already honestly say you need to read this. Seriously. Read it. I mean it!! GO!

The First Astronomers;
How Indigenous Elders read the Stars.
by Duane Hamacher with Elders and Knowledge Holders.

#astronomy#indigenous#indigenousKnowledge
mementomaori

“In mātauranga, we would connect everything wider, and I think that’s where the richness is, because when we concentrate too much on one particular smaller element, we can lose the bigger picture of what's really happening around us.” — Dr Pauline Harris #Māori #Indigedon #Aotearoa #ETangata #Mātauranga #IndigenousKnowledge

e-tangata.co.nz/korero/pauline

E-Tangata · Pauline Harris: Looking to the stars | E-Tangata“I always had a picture of Matariki next to my bed when I was growing up. I found it in National Geographic . . . I ripped the page out and put it on my wall, not knowing it would become really important to me later in life.” — Dr Pauline Harris, astrophysicist and expert on Māori astronomy and maramataka.
PermaSolarPotter

#YacoubaSawadogo (1946-2023) was known as “the man who stopped the desert.” His remarkable success builds on experimenting with traditional planting pits for soil, water and biomass retention, called “zaï” in the local language.

#gardening #permaculture #IndigenousKnowledge #BurkinaFaso #Africa #Zaï #permaculture

rightlivelihood.org/the-change

Right LivelihoodYacouba Sawadogo - Right Livelihood
The Wild Hunt News

Two Indigenous scholars are leading a new UNESCO Chair to restore Indigenous knowledge, research governance, and language—advancing climate resilience, cultural sovereignty, and global recognition of Indigenous matriarchal leadership.

wildhunt.org/2025/06/new-unesc

The Wild Hunt · New UNESCO Chair Puts Indigenous Knowledge and Rematriation at the Global ForefrontBy Manny Moreno
#UNESCO#IndigenousKnowledge#IndigenousLands
TrendingLive feeds
About