Monica Gagliano says that she has received Yoda-like advice from trees and shrubbery. She recalls being rocked like a baby by the spirit of a fern. She has ridden on the back of an invisible bear conjured by an osha root. She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
I’m sure the following detail is entirely unrelated:
Dr Gagliano… [had] been volunteering at an herbalist’s clinic, and had begun using ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew.
Dr Galgiano tells us that her embrace of indigenous Amazonian traditions, including medicine songs and bathing in tree pulp, and presumably the occasional snifter of ayahuasca, has resulted in the uncanny acquisition of “healing knowledge,” told to her by plants.
And because a cake needs icing:
The New York Times (unsurprisingly) points out that Gagliano also “speaks thoughtfully” on subjects such as the “legacies of colonialism [and] capitalism.”
The University of Sydney is ever so lucky.
Also, open thread.
You didn't mention the "telekinetic interactions". :-D
Posted by: Connor | September 03, 2019 at 08:32
You didn’t mention the “telekinetic interactions”.
I wanted to leave some surprises, some meat on the bone.
Posted by: David | September 03, 2019 at 08:36
Sydney Uni is really drinking the cool-aid. Sure has changed from my time when our college principal could leave and write this nice accurate book. finishing school for blokes
Posted by: Angus | September 03, 2019 at 08:38
She has ridden on the back of an invisible bear conjured by an osha root.
DMT will do that to you.
Posted by: sH2 | September 03, 2019 at 09:10
You know where this is headed. Soon we'll only be able to eat each other.
Posted by: Burnsie | September 03, 2019 at 10:01
"telekinetic interactions"
Band name.
Posted by: svh | September 03, 2019 at 11:40
She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
I once accidentally broke wind whilst playing the guitar.
I was attempting a very tricky tone-and-a-half double bend on the E and B strings at the fifteenth fret on a heavily strung guitar, and I had partaken freely of Guinness and a chicken vindaloo the night before. My bandmates were not amused, given that it was in a very cramped, hot and under-ventilated rehearsal space, sometime around the middle of July, 1986.
Does that count?
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | September 03, 2019 at 12:14
I met Dr. Gagliano at an outdoor cafe in San Francisco
Now there's a surprise.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | September 03, 2019 at 12:20
The University of Sydney is ever so lucky.
An autobiography.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | September 03, 2019 at 12:24
They Hover Above Us, Glowing With Wisdom
She's definitely hovering.
Posted by: Liz | September 03, 2019 at 13:24
She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
But did she straighten it out, or just leave the mess for the rest of us to clean up?
Posted by: TR | September 03, 2019 at 13:53
She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
Wait... she made space and time gay?
Posted by: Russtovich | September 03, 2019 at 14:11
The 60s phoned. They want their acid trip back.
Posted by: Killer Marmot | September 03, 2019 at 14:32
At least she's honest. Under the heading "Selected grants," Dr. Gagliano informs us that she received a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation/Research Support for...wait for it...
Brainless intelligence.
Posted by: Steve E | September 03, 2019 at 15:20
She claims that trees are intelligent. Therefore they must be sentient, as well. And trees are a part of the plant family.
We should not eat animals because they are sentient, so we should not eat plants, either. Only rock, and sand, for now. I foresee the next relevation will involve the wisdom of viruses and bacteria, and the terrible ecocide that we are visiting on them, as well.
Posted by: Rxc | September 03, 2019 at 15:39
Ayahuasca - different living through chemistry. Ayahuasca is a sort of tea made by combining two plant substances.
Neither substance is particularly psychoactive by itself. There are other "plants" (cacti and mushrooms) that are individually psychoactive. I wonder, what is the adaptive advantage of such compounds in those plants? Do the freaky mental images frighten away animals who eat them?
Posted by: Richard | September 03, 2019 at 15:47
Sshh. I can’t hear the mushrooms.
Posted by: David | September 03, 2019 at 16:13
FIGHTING HARD to be named the Internet Asstwat of the Week. She's in the lead...
Posted by: Gerard vanderleun | September 03, 2019 at 16:38
...along with Deepak Chopra...
People in the UK may not know this, but that medical/scientific crackpot appeared regularly on American government-funded ("public") TV.
Posted by: pst314 | September 03, 2019 at 16:57
So Aussies - during the coming Civil War when your local Liberty Battalion rolls into the ruined rubble of Sydney and you've captured "Dr" Gagliano, you let her go right? Or is it against the wall for her? She definitely doesn't rate a free helicopter ride IMO. Just a garden variety nutjob who manged to find employment that suits her nuttery.
Posted by: Sam | September 03, 2019 at 17:40
Sshh. I can’t hear the mushrooms.
To borrow one of our host's common phrases, the word 'respected' is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
She definitely doesn't rate a free helicopter ride IMO
No. Sydney Uni administrators and deans, OTOH...
Posted by: Daniel Ream | September 03, 2019 at 19:32
Or is it against the wall for her? She definitely doesn't rate a free helicopter ride IMO...Sydney Uni administrators and deans, OTOH...
Australia is a big place, spay and neuter the lot of them, fence off a big chunk of land in the outback, drop in some basic tools and supplies, and watch it like a giant ant farm or sea monkeys. Broadcast it as an educational thing. Hours of fun and entertainment for the whole family.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | September 03, 2019 at 20:01
She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
Sounds like she spent too much time playing Legend of Zelda in her youth.
Posted by: Governor Squid | September 03, 2019 at 23:10
The astonishing thing about the New York Times article is the reader comments! Perhaps one in ten are skeptical. Instead Gagliano is lauded for her brave transgressive ideas, and detractors are -- as usual -- accused of cynicism and close mindedness.
Posted by: Killer Marmot | September 04, 2019 at 00:09
fence off a big chunk of land in the outback ...
Feral proof fencing is a bit exy. A one way trip to Macquarie Island with a couple of pallets of Spam would be cheaper. And funnier. Viewing-wise.
Posted by: lotocoti | September 04, 2019 at 00:16
Feral proof fencing is a bit exy.
The island looks as if it has seals, so I am not sure it is fair to them to inflict them with the bozos, plus feral proof - with the quality of thinkers, and I am using that term extremely loosely, I think a double strand of barbed wire would have them bumfuzzled even as they watched a bandicoot walk under it. A triple strand of concertina would be the same as if one dug a 60 foot wide moat filled will alligators, sharks with frickin' laser beams, and ill-tempered sea bass.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | September 04, 2019 at 00:40
My plants 🌱 all say she’s crazy.
Posted by: Pogonip | September 04, 2019 at 01:57
She once accidentally bent space and time while playing the ocarina.
Yeah, well Vladimir Putin seeks my advice and the Pope has my cell number. Prove me wrong.
Posted by: WTP | September 04, 2019 at 01:58
Prove me wrong.
Orale, WT ese, yo tengo un telefono nuevo y no tengo su numero !
Texto mi su numero a VAtican 1-1111 pronto, pendejo !
Siempre su vato, Francisco
Posted by: Papa Francisco | September 04, 2019 at 02:40
товарищ ВТП,
Lyudmilia is wanting US&A vacationing home is better Vineyard of Martha or St. Petersburg - am thinking
PetrogradSt. Petersburg because climate will be like home, but address could be confusion.Please to making your usual wise advisings and leave in usual blind drop.
Your old droog, Влад
Posted by: Not the Transylvanian | September 04, 2019 at 02:53
I took magic mushrooms many times in my idiot youth. The only thing you learn from mushrooms is that it’s not a good idea to take mushrooms.
Posted by: JML | September 04, 2019 at 04:08
Pretty much in parallel, Florida Man recommends solving hurricanes with ice.
Posted by: Hal | September 04, 2019 at 04:22
"Book Chapters Gagliano, M. (2018). Inside the Vegetal Mind: On the Cognitive Abilities of Plants.
An autobiography"
Heh. One must recall that "potted plant" is just above "mineral" in the order of being. And now she is getting stoned.
Posted by: HArold Kildow | September 04, 2019 at 05:45
And here are some more "Glowing with wisdom" folks. Eggstrordinary!
Posted by: Fay | September 04, 2019 at 07:00
Eggstrordinary!
Ah, so the eggs aren’t human property and therefore the human protestors are entitled to destroy them? Okay then.
Posted by: David | September 04, 2019 at 08:13
@pogonip
Yeah, my orchid just told me that ocarina story is completely made up.
Posted by: Zionist Overlord #73 | September 04, 2019 at 12:11
Those protesters better be careful. Them roosters gets angry and they don't discriminate very well.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/rooster-pecked-woman-death-freak-attack
Posted by: WTP | September 04, 2019 at 16:01
Intelligence Without Brains. My comments bottlenecked. Send help.
Posted by: Odelay | September 04, 2019 at 18:03
Brexit Derangement Syndrome:
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/09/brexit-and-the-decline-of-the-english-novel/
Posted by: Pogonip | September 04, 2019 at 18:28
Brexit Derangement Syndrome
One can only assume that Quadrant pays by the word, because I made it about 1,200 words into that thing before I realized I was less than halfway through and decided to skip to the end.
There was no fulfilling punchline, alas.
Posted by: Governor Squid | September 04, 2019 at 22:24
There was no fulfilling punchline, alas.
Of the amount I skimmed through, the writeup seems to be a sort of summarizing introductory overview.
Posted by: Hal | September 05, 2019 at 01:44
Florida Man recommends solving hurricanes with ice.
Ice or atom bombs - either way sounds like a Robert Frost poem:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Posted by: TimT | September 05, 2019 at 10:37
One can only assume that Quadrant pays by the word, because I made it about 1,200 words into that thing before I realized I was less than halfway through and decided to skip to the end.
While you're there, I've got a poem in the current issue. :)
Posted by: TimT | September 05, 2019 at 10:39
Perhaps Ms. Gagliano can see Carbon Dioxide too?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/02/quote-of-the-week-greta-thunberg-claims-to-be-able-to-see-carbon-dioxide-in-the-air/
Posted by: Peter MacFarlane | September 05, 2019 at 11:38
She can see carbon dioxide with the naked eye. She sees how it flows out of chimneys and changes the atmosphere in a landfill.
There have been people who claimed to be able to smell out witches, too.
Posted by: pst314 | September 07, 2019 at 16:53
This will turn out well.
Posted by: Darleen | September 07, 2019 at 19:00
This will turn out well.
It’s as if they actively refuse to learn from past failures.
Posted by: David | September 07, 2019 at 19:52