It's occurred to me that maybe I should resume blogging a little bit. Lately it has just been funny/clever quips that I drop on Twitter from time to time. I just entered club 40s about a month ago, and my thinking has evolved on many things. As always, I reserve the right to be wrong and to change my mind based on new experiences and information.
A friend today mentioned that she likes to connect with nature a lot, and also tried to connect with some humans as well. On the one hand, I totally get the distinction between "nature" and "humans." There is certainly a qualitative difference between things largely untouched by humans, compared with how we've molded/harnessed "nature" to give us shiny and useful objects.
But there's also something called the naturalistic fallacy. In short, that which is "natural" is not necessarily better for us, or even inherently good. Cobra venom is 100% organic, but it'll still kill you. "Well who in their right mind would....!?" Nobody. That's not the point. The point is you have to look beyond labels and towards substance. If something is being marketed to you as "all natural," then it's probably overpriced. They're banking on you paying extra for whatever you think you're getting--substantively--from the label of "all natural." But ultimately whether that food is good or bad for you largely comes down to chemistry at a molecular level.
I've got some good (or bad) news for you. Everything that humans create is natural. That's because humans are part of nature. Whatever we do is, by definition, something nature is capable of producing, because here we are producing it. Life arose through natural processes, and therefore everything that life produces remains, by definition, natural. Whatever amazing virtual worlds we create for ourselves will also become a part of nature. Who are we to decide when nature ends and "humanity" takes over? Is that not a little bit presumptuous?
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