Tuesday 22 November 2011

Hypernature « NextNature.net




"Human design has made nature hypernatural. Hypernature is an exaggerated simulation of a nature that never existed. It’s better than the real thing: a little bit prettier, slicker and safer than the old kind. Hypernature is culture in disguise."


OMFG!! (Oh My Fairy Garden) I had to share this article as it had the effect of creeping me out big time. The statement above is a prelude to the article and reminded me of an Oppenheimer quote after he had seen the devastation of his creation. "When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb."

The question is not can we change nature, but should we? Whilst a great number of useful and life saving innovations have been the result of scientific enquiry and innovation, a co-opted commercial science can be isolated in it's thought processes, seeing only the technological challenge and monetary pay-off rather than the result and consequences.

No comments: