Natural versus Unnatural noise?
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005 01:34 pmSo this isn't my original thought at all. I needed a few pieces of logic before I could connect the dots, but once I had the pieces that dots connected on their own. I've been studying logical thought and epistemology. This one jumped out at me.
Given the truth of evolutionary theory and the idea that human beings share an ancestral tree with all other forms of life:
1. A sprawling suburb is every bit as natural as a prairie dog town, an ant hill, or a wasps' nest.
2. Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam is every bit as natural as a beaver's dam.
3. Traffic backed up on I-10 is every bit as natural as big horn sheep in line on a craggy, alpine pass in Glacier National Park.
4. A man working at a desk in a cubicle is every bit as natural as a salmon swimming up an Alaskan stream to spawn.
5. A construction worker obliterating a stretch of pavement with a jackhammer makes every bit as natural a sound as a cricket or a coyote doing whatever it is that crickets and coyotes do.
In other words, from an evolutionary perspective, the common sense idea that man-made things aren't natural isn't just false, it's unintelligible.
And therefore my pants are natural so being nekkid is not my natural state.
~Bas
Given the truth of evolutionary theory and the idea that human beings share an ancestral tree with all other forms of life:
1. A sprawling suburb is every bit as natural as a prairie dog town, an ant hill, or a wasps' nest.
2. Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam is every bit as natural as a beaver's dam.
3. Traffic backed up on I-10 is every bit as natural as big horn sheep in line on a craggy, alpine pass in Glacier National Park.
4. A man working at a desk in a cubicle is every bit as natural as a salmon swimming up an Alaskan stream to spawn.
5. A construction worker obliterating a stretch of pavement with a jackhammer makes every bit as natural a sound as a cricket or a coyote doing whatever it is that crickets and coyotes do.
In other words, from an evolutionary perspective, the common sense idea that man-made things aren't natural isn't just false, it's unintelligible.
And therefore my pants are natural so being nekkid is not my natural state.
~Bas
no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 06:54 pm (UTC)I think paving all over the country is unnatural actually. It destroys what we need to survive. Of course you could argue we need roads to survive. I dunno...i guess overpopulation is ok if all 8 of your kids turn out really great and make the world a better place. Although wow, 8 kids would be painful.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 08:33 pm (UTC)You think that paving all over the country is unnatural. And I would agree with that, but for completely different reasons, obviously. However, upon what do you base that opinion?
Going with the point of this entry, I would say that paving all over the country is not unnatural. Bees create their own "roadways." So do termites and ants. They create their own structures, buildings and roadways. The only difference is the level of "evolution" that the building material has undergone. In order to say that man-made material is unnatural, man would have to be an extra-terrestial or some other kind of alien from the natural evolution of the planet.
Unrelatedly, how was Dman's party?
no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 11:21 pm (UTC)Of course, I'm going to go with intelligent design. Which doesn't disprove evolution other than to say that the big boom happened on purpose. I'm still undecided on the meaning in Genesis. I used to feel that since one thousand days is the same as one day to God, that evolution could be possible based on that. But maybe it literally means in seven days. I don't know. It's a mystery of spirituality.
But this much I do know, man was placed on this earth for a great many things, including to protect the creatures. So roads being natural or unnatural doesn't matter. I believe we're hear to protect the creatures. Of course, I do believe that a human being is more important than a creature.
Which isn't to say that things are cut and dry either. There are some tough ones to decide. But a recent example would be that tragic as it was, the people were more important than the animals when Katrina hit. And it's good that we are going back now and helping the animals. Human life is more important, but animals shouldn't be left to suffer if we can help them.
As for child birth, it sounds like we now have three kinds of birth: a) assisted which would include pitocin use, c-section, and other methods which come to mind when thinking of hospital births, b) natural births which would be a birth without assistance other than some kind of IV, and c) a traditional natural birth being a birth without any assistance of an IV or drugs other than OTC sorts.