Magic // Current TV

Ask National Geographic explorer Wade Davis about magic, ritual, and why ancient wisdom matters to the world

Wade Davis will be in town tomorrow speaking at the Long Now lecture series on “The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World". We're going to have a chance to get your questions to Wade, so you know what to do: ask away!

Here is what TED has to say about why he is worth listening to:
Anthropologist Wade Davis is perhaps the most articulate and influential western advocate for the world's indigenous cultures. His stunning photographs and evocative stories capture the viewer's imagination. As a speaker, he parlays that sense of wonder into passionate concern over the rate at which cultures and languages are disappearing -- 50 percent of the world's 6,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children. He argues, in the most beautiful terms, that language isn't just a collection of vocabulary and grammatical rules. In fact, "Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind."

Davis, a Harvard-educated ethnobotanist, believes humanity's greatest legacy is the "ethnosphere," the cultural counterpart to the biosphere, and "the sum total of all thoughts and dreams, myths, ideas, inspirations, intuitions brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness." He beautifully articulates the intellectual, emotional and moral reasons why it's in everyone's best interest to preserve the world's cultures.

To this end, Davis serves on the councils of Ecotrust and other NGOs working to protect diversity. He also co-founded Cultures on the Edge, a quarterly online magazine designed to raise awareness of threatened communities. Perhaps his best-known work is The Serpent and the Rainbow,The Clouded Leopard: A Book of Travels. an international bestseller about zombification practices in Haiti. Wes Craven adapted the book into a 1988 film, which Davis denounced as a betrayal of the book's spirit. His latest book is

Hungry for more? Check out, Keepers of the World where Davis writes, "If they protect their sacred mountain home, the Indians of northern Colombia believe they will keep the entire planet in balance. It's getting more and more difficult."

So post your questions below. We will also be live tweeting from the sold out lecture on Wednesday, 7:30pm-9pm PST.

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