Posts
Oh-ho. Today, we're going to actually use some of that grey matter that we stimulated before - Or something we looked at earlier, to rephrase. However, I'm going to be cruel and unusual and not tell you what I'm actually referring to. It should be pretty easy, but think of it as a game! Let me know what previous posts you think are relevant in the comments below. Now, onto the main topic. Nature, natural nature. The nature of natural things is a curious one, and something which I think personally people don't pay enough attention to. Let's take one of the most hotly debated topics of the 21st century, for instance. Genetically modified foods - Whether you think they're the spawn of the devil, or whether you think they're a godsend (Pun intended, on both levels), I think we can all agree that they're not natural.
Oh, but that's where I disagree. Just to be contrary, you ask? Well, maybe, but that's where some of the best ideas come from. A great man once said "Genius is not in observing the extraordinary, but rather the everyday occurences of man." and truly, he was right. What is the true nature of our concept of natural?
Is a car natural? Probably not, you'd say.
How about a bicycle? Still a tool of the devil!
What about a monkey, using a club?
Or a magpie, fishing grubs from a tree with a stick?
In fact, when you get down to the nitty itty gritty horrible side of things, anything humans create is natural. We are a part of nature, and by that very definition, so are the things we create. That makes cars, natural - Genetically modified foods? Natural. Organ transplants? Natural.
So let me know what you think, both on whether all these horrible human constructs are natural, and also what posts this refers to! I'm deliberately excluding labels on this post to avoid making it too easy.
Cheerio,~The Thinker
If we make it "unnaturally", it is still natural. DNA is certainly one of Mother Nature's great gifts. As is our brain and its ability to understand DNA.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the flu epidemic of 1918 was also natural. As is malaria. National Geographic had an article in which it said that over the history of homo sapiens, malaria has accounted for half of the deaths. Mother Nature is a cruel and evil bitch. Watch out for what is natural.
I must admit that I don't find things such as computers, cars or microwaves very natural, even though they are created from things made by man found in nature. A boat, a nice wooden yacht, is much more natural to me than a spaceship, for example.
ReplyDeletePerhaps just because it uses natural materials? It will take a lot of convincing to tell me, though, that a computer is a natural product.
I much prefer my autumn leaves.
~FL