response 4/19

Marc Ereshefsky's "Where the wild things are" definitely has some interesting points about nature and humanity, and what makes something natural. Are humans natural? Is what we do natural? The text shows several different sides of the problem, and quotes both those who think humans & our behavior is "unnatural" , and those who disagree. What seems to be an irrefutable fact, however, is that humans are in some way or another different from other animals. Though we are still mammals and have come from this Earth, it would be difficult to argue against the fact that we've had a profound impact on the rest of the planet. Though other mass species extinctions have occurred before;
"According to Ridley (1993, p. 613), between 5 and 23 mass extinctions have occurred since the Cambrian period. All of these mass extinctions occurred before the existence of humans."
these were caused by things other than a species of animal.
The debate over whether certain aspects of human culture/behavior are natural and others unnatural is also raised, with one scientist (Katz) stating; "All human activity is not unnatural, only that activity which goes
beyond our biological and evolutionary capacities... In this sense, then,
human actions can also be judged to be natural – these are the human
actions that exist as evolutionary adaptations, free of the control and
alteration of technological processes."
It seems that the definition of "natural" varies greatly from person to person, and it is certainly a difficult concept to have a definitive opinion on. Can something be unnatural when all the building blocks come from the Earth? We humans have evolved naturally, so how can anything we do be unnatural? We have, however, greatly changed how the world works. Sometimes I feel as though humans are becoming a little too presumptuous when it comes to our importance - the recent natural disasters, and the current state of Europe, should remind us that there are still forces beyond our control.