natural vs artificial

[Justin Smith]

"People use the word "natural"... What is natural to me is these botanical species which interact directly with the nervous system. What I consider artificial is 4 years at Harvard, and the Bible, and Saint Patrick's cathedral, and the sunday school teachings" - tim leary

If money and everything around us is artificial then why do i need to conform to live happy

I know the man took LSD but this makes sense

[imported_luckyme]

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I know the man took LSD but this makes sense

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Like many words used on a philosophical or science forum "natural" has too many potential meaning to be useful without a lead-in definition. Essentially, there is natural and supernatural, any other use of the word means you create an arbitrary boundary between certain hard to define categories.
If I create NaCl in my laboratory, is it natural or artificial ( because man made it)?
Is modern corn natural?

It doesn't seem to have any use. Things are what they are, if it exists or is being done in our 4 dimensions then it's natural. It may be unusual, it may be non-productive, it may be unhealthy, but it will be natural.

luckyme,
if I thought I was wrong, I'd change my mind

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It doesn't seem to have any use. Things are what they are, if it exists or is being done in our 4 dimensions then it's natural. It may be unusual, it may be non-productive, it may be unhealthy, but it will be natural.

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Cannot agree more. Interestingly it is a word whose meaning has been corrupted in usage by an underlying theistic view of the world. That is, that somehow man is not natural, or endowed with non-natural properties (ie soul etc..). From my viewpoint, man is absolutely natural, like every other animal... More so, every artefact produced by man is as natural as any artefacts produced by animals (anthills, bird nests, cars, TV, pollution, bombs etc). This is a wholesome and wholistic view of things, untainted by prejudices about human presumed privileged status.

[benkahuna]

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It doesn't seem to have any use. Things are what they are, if it exists or is being done in our 4 dimensions then it's natural. It may be unusual, it may be non-productive, it may be unhealthy, but it will be natural.

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Cannot agree more. Interestingly it is a word whose meaning has been corrupted in usage by an underlying theistic view of the world. That is, that somehow man is not natural, or endowed with non-natural properties (ie soul etc..). From my viewpoint, man is absolutely natural, like every other animal... More so, every artefact produced by man is as natural as any artefacts produced by animals (anthills, bird nests, cars, TV, pollution, bombs etc). This is a wholesome and wholistic view of things, untainted by prejudices about human presumed privileged status.

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I also like the idea of views not being tainted by negative assumptions about human action relative to the health of the world. That's despite my concern about many human environmentally-damaging actions.

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That's despite my concern about many human environmentally-damaging actions.

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That's a complete different issue, which will only be resolved by a wholistic view, unfortunatley as it seems a rarer one imo. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[hmkpoker]

A certain plant needs a bee to land on its flowers and transport its pollen to reproduce. The bee, therefore, is responsible for its pollination. Is this "natural"?

I'd argue that all things that occur in reality are "natural"; humans evolved from nature, our will and intelligence are part of the product, and the world we create is the natural evolution of reality.

[hmkpoker]

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If money and everything around us is artificial then why do i need to conform to live happy

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Money may be artificial, but the security and comfort you get from having a strong steady income and liquid assets, and the feeling of accomplishment of making it in the world are very, very real. Just because you work for money doesn't mean you have to break off from your spirituality and happiness.

See, some of us don't completely lose our common sense after we do acid ^_^

[Rduke55]

Botulism is natural.