Re: What Is Natural?
Thomas Pardoe (tpardoe@chat.carleton.ca)
Fri, 27 Jan 1995 14:50:16 GMT
JAMES BENTHALL (st26h@rosie.uh.edu) wrote:
> I'll take responsibility for that post. Yes, culture *began* as a natural
> adaptation to the environment (as Service and Sahlins point out and expound
> on in _Evolution and Culture_) but it has, IMHO, developed into
> something far more complex and "unnatural." Because of culture humans have
> ceased to _evolve_ biologically as a result of *environmental conditions* [in
> large measure--I'm sure there are minor characteristics, such as the brain and
> cognitive capacities, that are still evolving--but you get my drift]. In fact,
> Philip Tobias claims that the brain has become the central focus of further
> evolution in homo sapiens. Good news for psychological anthropology!
> Culture has become the buffer between us and the environment to such an extent
> that *it* evolves in our place. This is my basis for claiming that we have
> become so removed from nature that we, as well as our technology [what is
> natural about what I'm doing right now?], have become decidedly "unnatural."
> I know I feel unnatural everytime I go camping :-)
> my $0.02,
> james benthall
I understand your point james. But what is "unnatural" about what
we're doing right now? It's "unnatural" in the sense that a computer
is not an organic thing, but it is part of our ecosystem. It's natural
for human beings to use technology. Technical artifacts are extensions
of the body and yet at the same time a withdrawal of body
consciousness - the buffer between us and the environment. Would we
consider all this unnatural if we weren't being so rotten to our
environment? I doubt it. But I don't wish to turn this into argument
over semantics. Thanks for your reply. I shall keep it in mind.
By the way, a couple friends of mine (biologists) told me that there
are physiological changes in human populations taken place. One I
hadn't heard was that we are apparently losing our small toes as
generations pass. There ya go, eh?
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Thomas Pardoe
Carleton University
I am the slime oozing out from your TV set.
- Frank Vincent Zappa, 1940-1993
Email address: tpardoe@chat.carleton.ca
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