Biopiracy

Indigenous Plant and Healing Knowledge with James Tunney (4K Reboot)

New Thinking AllowedAug 16, 2026

Irish barrister and poet James Tunney joins Jeffrey Mishlove to explore how indigenous peoples, not Western scientists, discovered many of the world's most powerful plant medicines, from ayahuasca to peyote. He argues that shamans who say the plants speak to them may be accessing a real, mystical form of knowledge, while Western science and patent law have engaged in biopiracy by claiming credit for these discoveries. The conversation also warns that psychedelics and consciousness research could be co-opted by a militaristic, transhumanist industrial culture.