Ilian Velikov wrote:Following your logic an earthquake or a meteor hitting Earth would then be 'unnatural' because
of the huge magnitude of the extinction it could cost in a very short timescale...?
Quite obviously, no definition condensed in one sentence could ever cover all the possible real-life
cases/exceptions of anything... There will always be some "loose threads" sticking out from it...
An asteroid hitting the Earth - a brief (= short-time) and most dramatic occurence - is most certainly
natural by all definitions. But what about detonating a thermonuclear bomb, which is equally brief
and would produce more or less the same effects - is it a "natural" disaster, or an "unnatural" one?
If natural (?) beings like
Homo sapiens had produced it and detonated it, is it less natural than an
impact of an asteroid? Ilian would probably say no. I haven't yet reached a decision. There has been
introduced a concept of "extended phenotype" when it comes to the particular species of
Homo sapiens...
It would include your clothes, probably your car as well, maybe even more than that, maybe even a
thermonuclear bomb... not clear for the time being.
In short, is the "technosphere" included in the "biosphere" or not? NATURALLY included or UNNATURALLY?
Or NOT AT ALL? As I said, difficult, tricky questions. I wouldn't tackle them lightly, and certainly not here.
As a scientist, when writing a paper, I would always prefer to use (much) more than one sentence
to describe the actual circumstances of what's really going on. Then everyone should get the right
message, irrespective of the terse definitions of this or that. I think it's the right way, and have been
using it all the time, for many years, not to specify how many... But I have the feeling that the readers
of our scientific (or any other) papers are always very much grateful if we do so. I certainly am, reading
other people's papers.
Peace on you, my friends. And may the Force be with you.
BTW, I strongly recommend reading the book
John Nicholas Gray (2002): Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals.
Not that I would readily subscribe to everything written there, but it's a revealing read indeed.