[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,0:09\Nto a critical time in this interface\N0:11\Nbetween humans and the natural world and\N0:13\Nthey might rightfully argue that the\N0:17\Nstate of the environment is quite poor\N0:19\Nand things may look bleak and while I\N0:22\Nagree mostly with those statements I'm\N0:24\Nnot here to depress you today in fact\N0:26\Ntell you a little bit of good news and\N0:28\Nillustrate that we have made some\N0:30\Nprogress and so I'll talk to you today\N0:32\Nabout my vision for a prosperous and\N0:34\Nsustainable world which involves of\N0:36\Ncourse the greater understanding\N0:38\Nreverence and respect for nature now\N0:43\Nthere are many ways in which we've begun\N0:46\Nto incorporate ecological and\N0:48\Nenvironmentally sustainable practices\N0:49\Ninto our society such as through levels\N0:53\Nassociated with industry for example\N0:55\Nusing natural biodiversity ecosystem\N0:59\Nservices in agriculture such as through\N1:01\Npollination services or pest reduction\N1:04\Nby simply putting habitats out there\N1:07\Ninstead of destroying it by promoting\N1:09\Nits environments that can sustain native\N1:12\Nbiodiversity we can work with nature\N1:15\Nrather than against it and this is an\N1:17\Nexample in which we can recreate a sort\N1:19\Nof harmony or equilibrium with nature\N1:21\Nafter centuries of trying to eradicate\N1:23\Nand control another means is to turn to\N1:28\Nnature for inspiration such as from this\N1:31\Nmajestic creature the peregrine falcon\N1:33\Nthe fastest animal on the planet who\N1:36\Nachieves speeds upwards of 300\N1:38\Nkilometres an hour as it dives out of\N1:40\Nthe air in order to kick another bird in\N1:42\Nthe back as its prey now any of you\N1:46\Nwho've ever stuck your head out of a car\N1:48\Nwindow that's racing down the highway\N1:50\Nwill well know how difficult it is to\N1:52\Nbreathe as that air is rushing past your\N1:54\Nnose and this would have was course been\N1:56\Nan evolutionary challenge to a fast\N1:59\Ntraveling bird like the peregrine falcon\N2:01\Nand so we find there are adaptations to\N2:03\Ncounter these challenges such as this\N2:06\Nlittle inverted cone that's in its\N2:09\Nnostril and so we can also turn to\N2:11\Nnature in order to inspire ourselves\N2:13\Nsuch as when engineers have began\N2:15\Nbuilding faster and more powerful jet in\N2:18\NAsians one of the main limitations was\N2:20\Nbeing able to get the air to go into the\N2:22\Nturbine because of all the turbulence\N2:23\Nthat was created at such high speeds and\N2:26\Nby inspiring themselves from the\N2:28\Nperegrine falcon they're able to insert\N2:30\Nlittle cones into the turbines and\N2:32\Nimprove the mechanical efficiency of our\N2:35\Ntechnologies another way in which we can\N2:37\Nturn to nature in order to find\N2:39\Npotential solutions for our problems and\N2:42\Nso the last way I'm going to mention\N2:44\Nwhich will really be the body of my talk\N2:46\Ntoday is by referring to nature's\N2:48\Ninventions directly that is in the form\N2:51\Nof compounds and chemicals that have\N2:53\Nevolved in nature's organisms over\N2:55\Nmillions of years and have biologically\N2:58\Nactive effects on animals and so this\N3:01\Nstory I'm going to tell you today is one\N3:02\Nin which we went down to Peru in 2010\N3:04\Nwith a film crew for the nature of\N3:07\Nthings of CV CBC television in order to\N3:10\Nmake a documentary on a Vancouver doctor\N3:12\Nnamed dr. Gabor mat� a who you see\N3:14\Nsitting here in the foreground to your\N3:15\Nleft who is a doctor who treats skid row\N3:19\Naddict patients of the lower east side\N3:21\Nof Vancouver who were dealing with\N3:22\Ncrippling addictions so why ayahuasca an\N3:28\Naddiction would that why would that be\N3:31\Neven a topic to discuss well we know\N3:33\Nthat in the 1950s a lot of research was\N3:36\Ninitiated in research institutions and\N3:38\Nacademia looking into psychedelic\N3:40\Nmedicine and its potential roles in\N3:43\Ntreating people with psychosis or\N3:46\Nvarious psychological illnesses and that\N3:49\Nthese experiments and studies led to\N3:52\Ngreat promise for treating people that\N3:54\Nwere afflicted with psychological\N3:55\Nburdens of course this movement was\N3:59\Nlargely discredited over the course of\N4:01\Nthe 60s as people discovered that the\N4:03\Nmilitary was using psychedelics in order\N4:05\Nto conduct mind-control experiments and\N4:07\Nthat of course the hippie acid parties\N4:10\Nin the Haight Ashbury neighborhoods of\N4:12\NSan Francisco somewhat deviated the\N4:15\Nseriousness of the potential for these\N4:18\Npsychedelics to help people and it's\N4:20\Nonly relatively recently that it's\N4:22\Nthought to come back in the discussions\N4:24\Nin the halls and the laboratories of\N4:26\Nacademia in using psychedelics to treat\N4:29\Npeople who have psychological disorder\N4:32\Nnow why why psychedelics and\N4:34\Npsychological disorders\N4:35\Nwell psychedelics be they be they LSD\N4:38\Nthe psilocybin of magic mushrooms DMT\N4:41\Nwhich is the active component in the\N4:43\Nayahuasca that I'll be discussing with\N4:45\Nyou today these are all chemicals that\N4:47\Nmimic serotonin and serotonin is a\N4:50\Nneurotransmitter that acts in our region\N4:52\Nthe regions of our brains that are\N4:54\Nassociated with mood perception and\N4:57\Nmemory so it's perhaps not surprising\N5:00\Nthen when we over stimulate these\N5:02\Nreceptors with analog mimics of these\N5:04\Nneurotransmitters we get these\N5:06\Nmind-altering experiences now\N5:11\Nspecifically what's ayahuasca ayahuasca\N5:13\Nis an amazonian psychedelic brew that is\N5:16\Nmade up of two different plants the bark\N5:19\Nfrom a vine of the banisteriopsis genus\N5:22\Nand the leaves of the psychotria tree\N5:25\Nand these two ingredients are harvested\N5:27\Nand macerated and mixed together and\N5:29\Nboiled in these cauldrons boiled and\N5:32\Nreduced and then boiled and reduced and\N5:35\Nboiled and reduced over 24 hours until\N5:38\Nat the end you receive this dark thick\N5:41\Nmolasses molasses like sludge and that\N5:44\Nis what it's used in the ayahuasca\N5:46\Nceremonies and this ayahuasca is the\N5:50\Nmost potent psychedelic that is known in\N5:53\Nfact its effects are so strong that the\N5:56\Nname itself has some kind of indication\N5:59\Ntowards these effects ayahuasca is a\N6:01\Ncatch you an Amazonian term which\N6:03\Nliterally translates into English as\N6:05\Nvine of the soul and so these\N6:08\Nexperiences with ayahuasca clearly give\N6:12\Nindividuals some kind of profound\N6:14\Ninsight into their own psyche so in\N6:20\Norder to document these ceremonies and\N6:23\Nthese effects of the psychedelic\N6:25\Nayahuasca we gathered up our film crew\N6:29\Nand hiked up the mountain of outside of\N6:31\Ntarapoto Peru one Saturday afternoon\N6:33\Nthrough thick Amazonian jungle through\N6:37\Nstinging fire ant nests and biting\N6:40\Nbullet ant nests and across raging\N6:42\Nrivers we hiked from hours\N6:45\Nbefore we were met at the top of the\N6:46\Nmountain by aku and arrows or the shaman\N6:50\Nat this open-air ceremony hot or Tambo\N6:54\Nso we were greeted warmly and we had\N6:58\Ntime to prepare for the ceremony which\N7:01\Nwould happen after sundown and\N7:03\Npreparation involved partly getting\N7:05\Nchanged into our ceremonial white\N7:07\Nclothing which was essential because\N7:09\Nthese these rites are performed in\N7:13\Ncomplete darkness and pitch-black and so\N7:15\Nit's important for the quand eros of\N7:17\Nshaman to be able to see you through the\N7:19\Nluminescence of your clothing because\N7:21\Nthey do come over and administer some\N7:23\Nrites and songs and healing practices\N7:25\Nand sometimes they have to prevent some\N7:28\Nwigged out space cadets from wandering\N7:30\Naway from their little trip out station\N7:32\Nwhich is basically just a little pillow\N7:36\Nagainst the wall and a bucket to vomit\N7:39\Ninto so you see part of the preparation\N7:42\Nof course is psychological getting\N7:45\Nyourself ready for the experience to\N7:47\Ncome and when it was my turn to go up\N7:49\Nand get the ayahuasca said a little\N7:52\Nsalutation salut de todos to everyone\N7:55\Nwishing us all good luck for what was to\N7:57\Ncome and what was to come was definitely\N8:01\Nthe most terrifying and the most\N8:03\Nexciting event of my life to date so\N8:07\Nthey once everybody had received their\N8:09\Nayahuasca they turned out the lights\N8:11\Nthe quand eros began to sing some\N8:13\Nceremonial traditional songs and not\N8:16\Nlong thereafter the visual\N8:17\Nhallucinations began so the first of\N8:21\Nthese visual hallucinations were that my\N8:24\Nvision began to be separated into layers\N8:28\Naway from me and then in the closest of\N8:31\Nthese layers I found that they were\N8:33\Ninfested with insects and snakes and\N8:35\Nbugs all scurrying around very very\N8:38\Nclose in my personal space many people\N8:42\Nwould have found this to be quite\N8:43\Ndisturbing but I'm trained as an\N8:44\Nentomologist and I therefore focused a\N8:48\Nlittle bit more intently on the insects\N8:50\Nand found that they were mostly carotid\N8:52\Nand tuna Brianna beetles and so\N8:54\Ntherefore not really much to be\N8:55\Nconcerned about\N8:56\Nand so I really did quite enjoy this\N8:59\Naspect of the the preliminary visuals\N9:02\Nthat were happening and noticed that in\N9:04\Nsome of the further layers that were\N9:05\Nmore distant away from me there were\N9:07\Nactually orbs of pastel colored lights\N9:10\Nbobbing around I remember thinking to\N9:12\Nmyself well that's weird because we're\N9:14\Nsitting here in the dark where does this\N9:16\Nlight come from and little did I know\N9:19\Nthere would be a lot more light yet to\N9:20\Ncome one of the other aspects of course\N9:24\Nas I hinted with the bucket is that\N9:25\Nthere's vomiting at this point and this\N9:27\Nis a form of purging in which the body\N9:29\Nis expelling this nasty bitter liquid in\N9:32\Nyour stomach but it's not just the\N9:34\Nphysical purge it's also a psychological\N9:36\None now it seemed like there was a lot\N9:39\Nof vomiting going on in retrospect there\N9:41\Nwasn't because afterwards I looked in\N9:42\Nthe bucket and there were only a few\N9:44\Ndrops of spit and some torn up petition\N9:46\Npaper that I'd used to wipe my face but\N9:49\Nat the time it really felt like there\N9:51\Nwere these torrents of vomit coming out\N9:53\Nand not to disgust you too much for one\N9:56\Nbecause it wasn't even vomit it was\N9:57\Nsnakes so there were snakes losing out\N10:01\Nof my nose and my mouth and this is\N10:03\Nquite literally what I was experiencing\N10:05\Nhowever despite this sort of somewhat\N10:08\Nfake freaky nature it was very cathartic\N10:11\Nbecause these snakes were felt like they\N10:13\Nwere bringing demons up from inside and\N10:16\Nwe're cleansing my soul in the process\N10:18\Nso in fact I felt quite good after this\N10:20\Npurge good as you can in the experience\N10:24\Nand of course it helped me prepare for\N10:26\Nwhat was to come next because that was a\N10:28\Nlot more intense so not long after say\N10:32\N45 minutes into this the first couple of\N10:34\Nlayers of insect grits began to\N10:36\Ndissipate and I moved closer towards\N10:38\Nthese bobbing Pascal colored orbs of\N10:40\Nlight and managed to spend a little bit\N10:43\Nof time in that weird strange cartoon\N10:45\Nkind of world until all of a sudden they\N10:47\Ncame rushing at me and I found myself\N10:50\Nblasted off into the universe on the\N10:52\Nback of some kind of fractal fireworks\N10:54\Nroller coaster so I was traveling\N10:57\Nthrough the universe at light speed with\N10:59\Nthe visuals becoming much much more\N11:01\Nintense at this point with colorful\N11:03\Nmandalas the fractals opening and\N11:05\Nclosing and spiraling around each other\N11:07\Nlike clockwork so quickly I couldn't\N11:09\Ntake it all\N11:09\Nin and in fact at this point I was also\N11:12\Nphysically being thrown around by the\N11:14\Nviolent turbulence of the wild ride on\N11:16\Nthis comet that I was traveling through\N11:19\Nthe universe on and again I had to say\N11:21\Nto myself this is so weird because\N11:23\Nrationally I was able to recognize that\N11:26\Nthere shouldn't be any lights I'm in the\N11:28\Ndark in a hut in Peru and why am I\N11:31\Nfeeling like my body's being thrown\N11:33\Naround so this was a really\N11:35\Nall-encompassing experience at this\N11:37\Npoint and I have to admit at this point\N11:39\Nit was a little much for me and I\N11:41\Nstarted to panic thinking I don't like\N11:43\Nthis anymore I wanted to get off but of\N11:46\Ncourse you can't the you are on this\N11:47\Nride until the very end and at some\N11:50\Npoint I admitted that to myself and said\N11:52\Nwell we're just going to have to ride it\N11:54\Nout and so I did and thankfully this\N11:56\Nreally intense part of the trip only\N11:59\Nlasted for another hour or so and so\N12:03\Nthat was fun but when that subsided we\N12:08\Ncame down into this really thick quiet\N12:12\Nwarm emotionally Laden place it wasn't\N12:16\Nthe room it was like more of a zone and\N12:18\Nthis zone was bordered by a big red\N12:21\Nvelvety curtain that reminded me\N12:23\Nessentially of this the black lodge in\N12:25\Nthe Twin Peaks television series but in\N12:29\Nthis hallucination there were no\N12:30\Nbackwards talking dwarves however what\N12:32\Ndid come next was truly astonishing to\N12:35\Nme the curtain pulled back and revealed\N12:38\Nto me a scene a forgotten scene from my\N12:41\Nown childhood that was somewhat\N12:43\Ntroubling emotionally and I had\N12:46\Nforgotten about that scene probably\N12:48\Nsince the very day it happened but as\N12:50\Nsoon as that curtain pulled back and I\N12:52\Nwas witness to it again I recognized it\N12:55\Nimmediately as having been an important\N12:57\Nevent in my life that I somehow had\N13:00\Nrepressed and what was interesting about\N13:03\Nthis is while I was reinsulate ly\N13:06\Ntraumatic scene from my childhood I\N13:08\Nwasn't revisiting any of the emotional\N13:11\Ntrauma associated with it it was like I\N13:13\Nwas a third party observer in partially\N13:16\Nand objectively being able to watch my\N13:19\Nlife story and to be\N13:20\Nto determine why or how it was important\N13:24\Nto me becoming who I was as an\N13:26\Nindividual it's almost like I wasn't\N13:27\Nseeing what was happening but I was\N13:29\Nbeing told why what I was seeing was\N13:32\Nimportant to how I became as an\N13:34\Nindividual later on in my life and so\N13:37\Nover the course of the next hour or so\N13:38\Nthese curtains continued to part and\N13:40\Npresented me with these astonishingly\N13:43\Nvivid memories that I had forgotten\N13:45\Nabout since those times but that allowed\N13:48\Nme to incorporate somewhat troubling\N13:51\Nexperiences from my past objectively\N13:53\Ninto my life story and to be able to\N13:55\Nmove forward without having the\N13:58\Nemotional burden of those events\N14:00\Ncontinue to nag at my conscience and my\N14:03\Nsubconscious throughout the rest of my\N14:04\Nlife so the point here folks is not a\N14:07\Nstory about recreational drug tourism\N14:11\Nit's about illustrating the potential\N14:14\Nfor these chemicals to help us to help\N14:17\Nus heal ourselves our health our\N14:20\Npsychology and our societies and to\N14:22\Nrecognize that let me tell you straight\N14:25\NI had a pretty happy childhood I was not\N14:27\Nburdened with a lot of emotional trauma\N14:29\Nbut even in my experience with ayahuasca\N14:34\NI came out with a profound understanding\N14:37\Nof the events that led up to me behaving\N14:39\Nthe way I do nowadays and most\N14:41\Nimportantly the way I behaved when I\N14:43\Ndon't like the way I'm behaving and\N14:45\Nusually that those behaviors come from\N14:47\Nsome kind of psychological nagging that\N14:49\Nis recessed somewhere in the back of\N14:51\Nyour brain that we all carry with us\N14:53\Nmore so those people that have\N14:55\Nexperienced serious dramas and have much\N14:58\Nmore emotional burdens that they carry\N15:01\Nand we've already heard from some people\N15:02\Nhere today that have Illustrated that\N15:04\Nthey have experienced those emotional\N15:06\Ntraumas and they continue to carry those\N15:08\Nburdens\N15:08\Nwell ayahuasca is clearly a tool that\N15:11\Ncan be used to allow people to come to\N15:13\Ngrips with those nagging forgotten\N15:15\Nmemories to be able to incorporate them\N15:18\Ninto their life story and then to move\N15:19\Non more happy and healthier\N15:22\Npsychologically speaking and therefore\N15:25\Nthese experiences as well as the\N15:27\Nacademic research indicate that there is\N15:29\Ngreat potential in the psychedelic\N15:31\Nmedicine to allow people to deal with\N15:34\Ndrama that has led to behavioral\N15:36\Nproblems such as addictions or syndromes\N15:39\Nsuch as post-traumatic stress disorder\N15:41\Nwhere people are haunted by their\N15:44\Nmemories and can't let go and move on so\N15:48\Nit's very interesting of course these\N15:50\Nchemicals exist and have that effect and\N15:52\Nas an evolutionary ecologist I don't\N15:54\Nsuggest that they were put here to help\N15:56\Nus or to inform us they'd rather evolved\N15:59\Nin order to deter the more pervasive\N16:00\Ninsect herbivores but insects have\N16:03\Nessentially the similarly structured\N16:05\Nnervous systems as we do and whereas\N16:08\Nthese neurotransmitter mimics may cause\N16:11\Nconvulsions and paralysis in the motor\N16:13\Nsystem of a simplified animal like an\N16:16\Ninsect in a more higher evolved animal\N16:19\Nwhose neurotransmitters are clustered\N16:21\Ninto networks the effects can be\N16:25\Nprofound in terms of giving us insights\N16:27\Ninto our own psyche of course\N16:29\Naccompanied with the greatest light show\N16:30\Non earth\N16:31\Nso the message here is that the\N16:35\Npotential for turning to nature for help\N16:39\Nand cut-in finding solutions to our\N16:41\Nproblem is great this potential could be\N16:43\Nrelated to working in harmony with\N16:46\Nnature such as in the agricultural or\N16:49\Nother industrial sectors it could be in\N16:51\Nterms of turning to nature for\N16:53\Ninspiration when we're looking to create\N16:55\Nthe next mind-blowing technology or it\N16:58\Ncould be turning to nature in order to\N17:00\Nutilize some of the pre-existing\N17:03\Nstructures that have evolved in nature's\N17:06\Norganisms over millions of years and\N17:08\Nthat can help us as a society but of\N17:11\Ncourse nowadays the environment is in\N17:14\Nperil ecosystems are under threat from\N17:16\Nhuman advances in habitat destruction\N17:19\Nand toxic pollution and as we lose these\N17:22\Necosystem functions we don't just lose\N17:25\Nintegral fabrics of our nature we also\N17:27\Nlose the potential for these discoveries\N17:30\Nthat can help human society in the\N17:32\Nfuture and so that is why I say that\N17:36\Npart of my vision for a prosperous and\N17:39\Nsustainable future involve a deep\N17:41\Nunderstanding and respect and\N17:44\Npreservation of the natural world\N17:47\Nhope that you would agree
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,