Natural

There is a an idea that there are some things that are natural and there are some things that are unnatural.  There are also things that are man-made, which while not being natural are not considered unnatural.  There is a sense in which natural things are considered better, purer, unspoiled, beautiful, even more moral.  Unnatural is the opposite side of the coin to this perception, there is a sense of ugliness and wrongness to how we think about what is unnatural.  Man-made is simply that, without any sense of rightness or wrongness.

What is actually natural, and what is not natural?  Really, everything is natural.  At the bottom the word doesn't even have a meaning.  There is not one thing that has not been formed by nature.  However, we do know what the word means, it means not altered by human beings.  Where does this concept come from?  It comes from the age-old concept that people are qualitatively different from everything else.  It's the separation between humans and animals.  It's the religious belief that we were made by God or gods, and that the rest of everything is ours to rule or use.  What is natural then is everything that does not separate us from the rest of the universe.

Of course we know that there is not really such a separation.  There are things that only humans do, but we are finding that these are fewer and fewer than we had previously thought.  We are apes, genetically far more similar to other apes than different from them.  The thought that speech, empathy, thinking, tool-use, culture etc. were all only human characteristics has been shown to be false.  Rats free other rats from cages at a disadvantage to themselves.  Dolphins protect other species from sharks.  Killer whales around the world have different cultures.  Gorillas can learn sign-language, the communication between wolves is quite advanced.  Monkeys use tools in a multi-step process.  Octopuses build structures.  The difference between humans and other animals is largely a simple matter of degree. 

This is still not how the word is used.  "Natural" nowadays is used most often as a marketing device.  If something is derived from natural ingredients then you can charge more money for it and people think it is better for themselves or the environment.  This is regardless of what the ingredients might be.  As an example, people use tobacco as a pesticide because it is a natural product.  Tobacco has 28 carcinogens in it.  If you bought a product in a plastic spray can with 28 carcinogens in it would you spray it around your garden?  However, on the whole it might well be a good strategy to go for natural products over artificial products, my point is that people automatically assume that this is so.  Somehow natural is better.

Whether something is natural or not is also used in moral decisions.  Some of the arguments against certain behaviors (homosexuality, recreational drug use, performance enhancing drugs in sport, etc.) consist of these being "unnatural" as is to assume that all behaviors should be natural.

Finally there is the concern about the environment, that "destroying nature" is wrong.  We must work to save every species we can, even at the cost to ourselves.  We must ensure that through our activities we don't change the world around us.

To start, everything is natural, it comes about through natural laws.  However, even in the colloquial sense of the word it doesn't make much sense.  While animals do sometimes show sympathy for other animals this sympathy is pretty isolated, is always in direct proximity, and is quite limited with regard to species.  There is no other animal in the world that thinks it is a bad thing that a plant species on a different continent becomes extinct.  people think of the balance of nature, but really that balance comes about simply because the form of life that tries to kill other forms of life can only do so to a limited extent and survive.  What is natural is to kill whatever is in front of you until satiety.  In truth, caring about nature is unnatural, it is uniquely human.

My second and last point on nature is that for humans, nature really isn't that great.  Imagine being a human that lives naturally, that is to only use the abilities that are shared by other animals.  You are a hunter-gatherer who at best lives in a hut.  Your life is nasty, brutish, and short.  Not only that, but when humans arrived in North America and Australia there was an immediate vast extinction of large mammals.  It is natural for humans to kill without caring about the consequences to the environment.

Caring about nature is really a method of arranging the world in a way to make humans happy.  There is a reason why we cared about dolphins being trapped in tuna nets, but not tuna being trapped in tuna nets.  We like dolphins more than tuna.  This is a picture of an English country garden.  It is beautiful, and almost no-one would think that it was unnatural.

However, the only thing in the picture that might be the same without humans are the trees in the very far background.  England naturally would be almost entirely covered in old oak forest.  The clearing is unnatural.  The grass is unnatural.  The foreground trees are unnatural.  The flowers have even be genetically modified to be more beautiful to the human mind.  Humans like diversity in their environment because omnivores prefer a wide variety of food sources, and so when we alter the environment to our needs we produce a startling diversity of species.  My garden has a range of plants from palm tree to rose bush within fifteen yards.  By far the greatest number of large mammals on Earth have been genetically "engineered" by humans to serve their needs.  Cows, sheep, and dogs are all unnatural.

I care about what is natural or not.  I don't like vast swathes of concrete.  I want more trees, more flowers, clean air, clean streams, and abundance of life.  I want there to be nature preserves for animals that I like.  I want to be able to walk in nature.  However, I want this for myself, because it makes me happy.  I recognize that the concept of "nature" doesn't really make any sense.  Just like every other animal we act in our own self-interest, and I think that's OK.  I want to live in a world full of gardens, and parks, where plants and animals flourish but I don't want to do this because of a nebulous concept of nature.  Such a world would be unnatural, a bizarre creation of humans.  I think that's OK.  I think it's OK for me to care whether snow leopards survive or become extinct while wishing fervently for the man-made extinction of mosquitoes.

I think human beings should use and alter nature in their own best interest (but really their own, long-term, sustainable interest) because that produces a better life for humans, and is actually natural.