Man and Nature

[john titor]

I hate cooking, yes, I truly loathe it although I appreciate good food. It takes too long, theres entropy as a byproduct in washing up dishes etc, but this ties into something deeper, for our ancestors like every other animal, dinner was one of the main goals in life apart from reproduction. As we move further away from natures intended plan there is a conflict of interest between what we the human species want and what has been decided for us by nature. Now what I think is that nature can fook off because its so restrictive, you can't pollute the atmosphere, oooh nnooo cfcs will create an ozone hole. Anything worth doing, with our technology seems to upset the environment and at its simplest level it boils down to cooking. Lots of people don't want to cook and rightly so because its boring and time consuming.

This is my point, man is better than nature, we are not animals, we are men, and as men we can choose not to follow the rules of nature and set our own rules. This is what it means to be human.

 

[scotpens]

Your essential point is correct. Homo sapiens is a tool-using species. Our rational and inquisitive brain and our opposable thumbs make us unique in the animal kingdom. We don't just take nature as we find it; we modify, change and adapt nature to suit our needs, to improve our lives, to be happier, healthier and more productive as individuals and as a species. Our nature is to be unnatural; our very unnaturalness is what makes us human.

However, occasionally we push nature too far, and nature turns around and bites us in the ass. Hopefully, those experiences teach us how to deal with nature more wisely.

 

[Silvercrest]

History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of men.

 

[Birdog]

History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of men.

GODZILLA!

 

[scotpens]

GODZILLA!

Not to mention these pesky critters.

 

[Birdog]

GODZILLA!

Not to mention these pesky critters.

You missed the reference. That's a line from Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla. The next word was godzilla. I'm only 25 and I got that

 

[scotpens]

You missed the reference. That's a line from Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla. The next word was godzilla. I'm only 25 and I got that

Oh.

Well, I'm 30 years older than you and I'm not familiar with their music. I only recently discovered where all those "more cowbell" references came from.

Okay, so I'm an old fart.

 

[think]

had to re-read(re-sing) that post for the reference to the song

 

[Meredith]

Well it is Nature's Fault, it shouldn't have evolved some monkey's with Opposed thumbs, big brains and upright walking....

We are the the Next big Paradigm shift in life, much like the move from single cell life to multicell life, from sea life to land life, from cold blooded to warm blooded....

We are the shift from life that only relies on DNA for information to life that includes contextual information (culture) that is passed down from one animal to the next...

 

[sojourner]

And of course the next paradigm is life (man) that designs life(machine).

 

[ProtoAvatar]

Well it is Nature's Fault, it shouldn't have evolved some monkey's with Opposed thumbs, big brains and upright walking....

We are the the Next big Paradigm shift in life, much like the move from single cell life to multicell life, from sea life to land life, from cold blooded to warm blooded....

We are the shift from life that only relies on DNA for information to life that includes contextual information (culture) that is passed down from one animal to the next...

From the point of view of life 'methodology', 'strategey', we are, indeed, different than anything nature tried on Earth before - intelligence and ability to manipulate one's environment which lead to culture and technology.

However, a more important criterion is what will we achieve more than the previous life experiments nature tried:

If we self-destruct, we'll be no better than those extinct, dumb dinosaurs; we'll be actually worse, less successful - the dinosaurs survived for tens of millions of years, we, ony for a few tens of thousands.

But if we survive and spread life beyond the confines of this planet, where it was imprisoned since time immemorial - well, that IS a giant leap forward for life, a TRUE paradigm shift.

Whatever the final fate of humanity (technological intelligence?), it will be decided very soon (in cosmic time) - in a few humdred (a few thousand at most) years.
Apparently, technological intelligence is characterised by a very swift evolution.

 

[iguana_tonante]

This is my point, man is better than nature, we are not animals, we are men, and as men we can choose not to follow the rules of nature and set our own rules. This is what it means to be human.

Enjoy your next hurricane, plague, glaciation, volcanic eruction, whatever. Nature can "fook" us in the ass every time she want.

And of course the next paradigm is life (man) that designs life(machine).

I've heard they have a plan.