Episode 51 - 65,000 Years of Tech Transfer with Chris Matthews

In this episode, I had the chance to explore technology transfer through the lens of one of the world’s most enduring and continuous cultures, Australia’s indigenous peoples, with Professor Chris Matthews FTSE, Chair of ATSIMA (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Alliance), and Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at UTS.

Chris set the scene by sharing his journey to mathematics, his embracing of programming and Commodore 64s as a means to getting through school and his childhood. This was a form of escape from the systemic racism that permeated his schooling and early career. While in retrospect, the journey was 'bittersweet', it led Chris to his interest in numerical techniques that formed the basis of his undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Chris found himself called back to his community, finding connection between culture and mathematics. This connection, in a sense, needed to be rediscovered as years of western philosophy and methodology was to be suspended in order to reconnect to country and people. This reconnection presented as a perspective on knowledge and in turn technology transfer. Aboriginal culture is dominated by relationships among people, tribes and the lands and ecosystems on which they live. That kinship with the ecosystem and each person’s place within it was rediscovered through Chris’s leadership at ATSIMA.

Knowledge transfer is a strict system, based on these connections and the roles and responsibilities of people within those systems. Chris offered some perspectives on the balance that exists and is maintained and the role of story and songlines in carrying the knowledge system between generations. This was beautifully demonstrated by Chris as he reflected on songlines that go back to the last ice age and how those stories of survival endure.

I then asked of Chris about any inherent ability to adapt and adopt technology through the ages. Chris spoke of how new things, and indeed new people, are positioned in the ecosystem and balance is maintained. He briefly touched on the impact of people being taken out of country. Chris then shared the story of bush mechanics, which had been made into a documentary many years ago and how aboriginal communities were early adopters of the automobile as a means to maintain connection.

We finally contrasted western technology transfer systems and how indigenous culture could and should interact. In his closing thoughts, Chris reflected on the Australian National Science Priorities and the opportunity that the inclusion of indigenous culture and concepts could create new opportunities for both understanding and a better science and technology system.

I found this a fascinating conversation, reminding me of Episode 30 the podcast where we discussed tech transfer and theology with John Bloomer and Spiegare’s work with Amanda Garner many years ago when she was at ANFAB. It offered some challenges to the way we see technology transfer and opportunities to be better at considering the broader ecosystems we are working in – a theme that we explored recently with Dr John Howard in Episode 49. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a central theme that emerged for me was relationships and how the are built and endure through culture and time.