Can something be "unnatural"?

[Allefrans]

No.

According to me everything comes from nature. Everything is nature.
It grinds my gears when people say that things like chemicals are "unnatural". I mean, where does the materials come from to make chemicals? Nature. Everything on Earth is nature. Therefor nothing can be unnatural.

What do you guys say?

Btw bestest england speaker, be gentle.

[Deleted]

I don't think this is meant to be in wow general, I'll move it over to off topic

[Allefrans]

I don't think this is meant to be in wow general, I'll move it over to off topic

Ah yea my mistake, thanks.

[Deleted]

unnatural is used to describe something that has not been found freely available in the nature, one of these things being monkeys that glow in the dark, I guess.

[reckoner04]

No.

According to me everything comes from nature. Everything is nature.
It grinds my gears when people say that things like chemicals are "unnatural". I mean, where does the materials come from to make chemicals? Nature. Everything on Earth is nature. Therefor nothing can be unnatural.

What do you guys say?

Btw bestest england speaker, be gentle.

Yes, everything comes from "nature". However, the word natural has the meaning our society has given it.

[Adam Jensen]

Technically no, but I think the word applies to anything of human origin that is drastically changed from what would be found in a natural environment (such as plastic.) However, we are products of nature, our intellect is a product of nature, therefore it is only natural that we create and thus everything we create is natural.

Even the Large Hadron Collider is natural. It is in our nature to build.

[Activi-T]

I suppose you could consider antimatter unnatural as our natural universe is made of matter.

[Deleted]

unnatural is used to describe something that has not been found freely available in the nature, one of these things being monkeys that glow in the dark, I guess.

If it cannot be found naturally growing or ocurring in the wild, its not "natural" then it's man made.

[Adam Jensen]

I suppose you could consider antimatter unnatural as our natural universe is made of matter.

But even antimatter was a product of our universe, if only for a brief moment at the dawn of time.

[Kuniku]

if something doesn't occur naturally then its not natural.

we can take natural things and make unnatural things from them. many things in our lives are unnatural imo

[Deleted]

If it cannot be found naturally growing or ocurring in the wild, its not "natural" then it's man made.

we didn't make the monkeys, we simply engineered them to be different, there's a difference.

[endersblade]

Everything on Earth is nature. Therefor nothing can be unnatural.

Ok, Contradiction there. "Everything on Earth is nature." Ok, I guess we can agree on that for a baseline. "Therefore nothing can be unnatural." Wrong. Going by your baseline, that everything ON EARTH is natural, what about everything ELSE in the infinite universe? You're thinking too small, unfortunately.

Yes, everything here on our planet is made of materials naturally occurring here. However, when combining said materials into something that doesn't occur naturally, it's usually referred to as 'man-made'. Asphalt for roads is definitely not naturally occurring, but everything in it is made from nature.

The real question is, what in the world brought this up? I've never heard anyone say things like 'chemicals are unnatural' lol. They could just be referring to the fact that those chemicals shouldn't normally be...well, wherever they happen to currently be. As in, against the natural flow of things.

[Allefrans]

Ok, Contradiction there. "Everything on Earth is nature." Ok, I guess we can agree on that for a baseline. "Therefore nothing can be unnatural." Wrong. Going by your baseline, that everything ON EARTH is natural, what about everything ELSE in the infinite universe? You're thinking too small, unfortunately.

Yes, everything here on our planet is made of materials naturally occurring here. However, when combining said materials into something that doesn't occur naturally, it's usually referred to as 'man-made'. Asphalt for roads is definitely not naturally occurring, but everything in it is made from nature.

The real question is, what in the world brought this up? I've never heard anyone say things like 'chemicals are unnatural' lol. They could just be referring to the fact that those chemicals shouldn't normally be...well, wherever they happen to currently be. As in, against the natural flow of things.

The question was more if something that appear in nature (built or not) is natural or not. I mean a birds nest isnt consider unnatural, but neither does it appear naturally in nature, since the birds build it. Same thing with asphalt roads, which we humans build from materials that exist in nature.

Also, "against natural flow of things" sounds strange. I mean, humans evolve, learning new ways of living through science and chemicals. To me that is a natural flow.

[Keller]

OP, this is a very touchy subject and by definition there's nothing "Unnatural" in existence.
The thing is, natural is what our society thinks is the norm. It's a way to 'elevate' morals and ethics to the point where a behavior can be outlawed and frowned upon, take homosexuals for example, the catholic church really likes to call them "unnatural" when the concept of their own god is a concept of something unnatural.

The thing with human beings is that we're the product of our enviroment, genes and experiences. Whenever someone says "Oh, that's unnatural" they mean "Oh, that's different"

So in conclusion, 'unnatural' is the socially acceptable way of saying 'different' or 'morally unaccepted', not "It doesnt occur in nature".

For example if mankind made thinking autonomous robots ( this is just an example ) that would not be unnatural, although it sure as hell will cause a fuss and debate.
Same thing with cloning - it's organic processes being done in a synthetic way - it's not 'unnatural' just not something that's socially accepted.

[Deleted]

It depends, do you view ant hills as unnatural? Beehives? Birds nests?

If you don't view these as natural, then nothing humans can create is natural.
If you do view these as natural however, then whatever humans create is also natural.

[Keller]

Ok, Contradiction there. "Everything on Earth is nature." Ok, I guess we can agree on that for a baseline. "Therefore nothing can be unnatural." Wrong. Going by your baseline, that everything ON EARTH is natural, what about everything ELSE in the infinite universe? You're thinking too small, unfortunately.

Yes, everything here on our planet is made of materials naturally occurring here. However, when combining said materials into something that doesn't occur naturally, it's usually referred to as 'man-made'. Asphalt for roads is definitely not naturally occurring, but everything in it is made from nature.

The real question is, what in the world brought this up? I've never heard anyone say things like 'chemicals are unnatural' lol. They could just be referring to the fact that those chemicals shouldn't normally be...well, wherever they happen to currently be. As in, against the natural flow of things.

Are honey combs unnatural? since they dont occur normally in nature, they have to be built by bees. And just like bees we build cities, we just use our intellect and not our instinct to do it. Are you saying that it's human beings that are unnatural?

Now thinking about it, it makes me wonder, is antimatter unnatural?

[Adam Jensen]

Ok, Contradiction there. "Everything on Earth is nature." Ok, I guess we can agree on that for a baseline. "Therefore nothing can be unnatural." Wrong. Going by your baseline, that everything ON EARTH is natural, what about everything ELSE in the infinite universe? You're thinking too small, unfortunately.

Yes, everything here on our planet is made of materials naturally occurring here. However, when combining said materials into something that doesn't occur naturally, it's usually referred to as 'man-made'. Asphalt for roads is definitely not naturally occurring, but everything in it is made from nature.

The real question is, what in the world brought this up? I've never heard anyone say things like 'chemicals are unnatural' lol. They could just be referring to the fact that those chemicals shouldn't normally be...well, wherever they happen to currently be. As in, against the natural flow of things.

But it's arguable to say that asphalt is naturally occurring because we humans are naturally occurring.

[endersblade]

Also, "against natural flow of things" sounds strange. I mean, humans evolve, learning new ways of living through science and chemicals. To me that is a natural flow.

That's not what I meant.

For example. You live in a podunk little town, where every day is basically the same. Nothing ever really changes. Suddenly, an entire armada of military vehicles flood through your town for an hour or two. THAT would be quite unnatural for you.

I'd come up with something for these chemicals you're going on about, but it's 4 in the morning, and my brain is fried.

Also, either you guys aren't reading my post, or just severely misconstruing it. I never, at any point in time, said that asphalt was unnatural, please stop claiming so. I merely said that, in the Asphalt state, it does not occur in nature. The tar, rocks, and whatever else is used to make asphalt, THOSE all occur in nature. The combination of said materials does not happen in nature.

[Keller]

That's not what I meant.

For example. You live in a podunk little town, where every day is basically the same. Nothing ever really changes. Suddenly, an entire armada of military vehicles flood through your town for an hour or two. THAT would be quite unnatural for you.

I'd come up with something for these chemicals you're going on about, but it's 4 in the morning, and my brain is fried.

Also, either you guys aren't reading my post, or just severely misconstruing it. I never, at any point in time, said that asphalt was unnatural, please stop claiming so.

You're talking about the wrong kind of unnatural.
There's cause and effect. and they're both natural since they're caused by natural means. ( us )
Being unnatural in someone's eyes means nothing. Nothing is unnatural. (Except maybe antimatter? lol)

[Allefrans]

It depends, do you view ant hills as unnatural? Beehives? Birds nests?

If you don't view these as natural, then nothing humans can create is natural.
If you do view these as natural however, then whatever humans create is also natural.

I view all of those things as natural, because they are made of organism that comes from nature.