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

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

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It depends on the situation, the topic, and even the person; words don't have hard-coded meaning. For example, for me:

A substance extracted directly from plants, even cultivated ones, is "natural". One that relies on industrial processes is "man-made".
A desire path is "natural", even if caused by human activity. A planned path is "man-made".

So at the end of the day, perhaps it has to do with planning? At least for me. Man-made things aren't just the result of human activity; they're the goal of said human activity. That may or may not apply to what your wife was talking about, depending on the context of what she said - those nests are not the goal of human activity, unlike your house.

this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023

70 points (92.7% liked)

Asklemmy

43908 readers

834 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS