“From Stars to Microbes:” The Natureness of Nature

“What is nature?,” asks Sarah Wilson in this post at The Americanist Diversion. We at Ant Spider Bee might like to add: where is nature in the digital? Where is the digital in nature?

“Nature” is an idea. It is a name that we give to a particular part of our world – one that may span great lengths of space – but it is only an idea. Think of the ol’ tree in the forest riddle. If no one is around to hear, does it make a sound if it falls? Our ideas are thoroughly and 100% completely from the perspective of our humanity. Is wilderness still wilderness unless we designate it to be so? There must be a marker for comparison. So, as a result, our ideas of nature and the weighted meaning that comes with it only exist because we have something to relate it to. Nature is natural because it is not technical or industrial.