Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hank Harrison - Natural vs Artificial

What can possibly truly be artificial? By artificial, I mean something that is not "natural," or something that would not "normally" occur in nature. But what is there that we have observed in this world that is not "natural" at least in some sense? Are human beings an anomaly in that they force their wil upon the earth? Friedrich Nietzsche's principle is based on basic human ambition to achieve, but do nonhumans not have some element of ambition to force their will on the world around them? My dog Reggie tries to catch squirrels all the time but the 65lb mutt just isnt fast enough. His ambition is above his natural ability, but if he catches the squirrel is this so unnatural as to be artificial?

Human beings are different in that they have exponentially higher abilities which they use to impose a far more impressive will. I argue that phenomena typically termed artificial because it originates from human action is no more unnatural than Reggie catching the squirrel. Humanity's construction of huge cities and exploration into space is indeed natural because it is the result of the endless natural chain of events that is life on earth.

On the other hand, certain results of human action lead to drastically unnatural results. Personal opinion of the matter aside, global warming I feel is a good example of this.

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