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What’s the difference between natural and man made? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by IanAtCambio@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Just something I was talking about with the wife this evening. She says that our house is not natural and used the phrase “out in nature”. But lots of animals build nests. And are we not animals just doing the same?

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[–] barrage4u@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have two trains of thought on this. The first is naturally occuring vs man made. Stones are naturally occuring, bricks are not. While we as a species have always made shelter, there is something "unnatural" about modern homes with glass windows, running water, steel beams etc.

The second is natural vs synthetic. GMO'd food, hydrocarbons etc. I think the biggest difference to me regarding this is around how long we've been exposed to the substances. We've been exposed to certain foods and chemicals (from plants etc) for 100,000s of years and so our bodies handle them well. Our bodies haven't adapted to things like polymers, microplastics or high fructose corn syrup, which is why these "unnatural" chemicals are considered bad.

[–] Lockenbert@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 year ago

I take issue with your second paragraph. It implies a order (natural=good) that just isnt there in the world, especially the exposure argument. Humans die pretty fast from cyanide and other plant based poison despite millenia of contact, but Teflon and metallic titanium (both comercially produced since roughly 80 years) are safe to impant. Also genetic modification started with doestication through selective breeding and crop selection - all comercially used species are modified in any number of ways.

Im a chemist and maybe had too many arguments with "nature good, chemicals bad" types, so please take my rant with some (very natural) salt.