  From an anthropological point of view, the whole concept of a "path of
progress" in astronomical discovery is anathema, since it implicitly downgrades
other cultural perspectives, such as the many "indigenous cosmologies" that
still exist in the modern world. By doing so, one risks provoking those who
hold them and-as is most obvious in places such as Hawaii where the two
"world-views" come into direct contact-reating avoidable resistance to that
very progress. The problem is complicated by the existence of "fringe" and
"new-age" views that are increasingly confused with, and even passed off as,
indigenous perceptions. In a modern world where widespread public perceptions
include many that are unscientific in the broadest sense of the term, I shall
argue that there are actually a range of positive benefits for progress in
scientific astronomy to be derived from the mutual awareness and comprehension
of "genuine" cultural world-views whose goals-in common with those of modern
science-are to make sense of the cosmos within which people live. While two-way
education is clearly a prerequisite, I shall argue that the necessary level of
reconciliation can only be achieved through more fundamental attempts by modern
astronomers to understand, and ultimately to respect, both the non-Western
frameworks of thought that give rise to other cultural perspectives and the
heritage associated with them. One of the most obvious potential benefits could
derive from common attitudes towards the natural heritage of astronomy, namely
dark skies.
