Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sick and Tired of Waking Up Sick and Tired

My sinuses have been really bothering me for the past couple of weeks. It hasn't helped that I've also been very busy. I went to a specialist this morning, and he confirmed what I'd already suspected: I've got some kind of infection that has spread throughout all the empty spaces in my head (believe me, we're talking a dimension unto itself here). I got a prescription, so I'll see how it goes over the next few days...

While I'm here I might as well talk a bit about something else that has been annoying me for, oh, about the last 10-15 years. I'm sick and tired of "false dichotomies", and I'm especially sick and tired of the false dichotomy of nature and nurture (or the environment, however it's currently expressed in "learned" circles these days). Let's get one thing straight from the get-go, OK? There is nothing, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, anything in the entire universe that can properly be called "unnatural." "Nurture" (or whatever) is simply a mode of nature, because nature is all there is.

When people call this or that "unnatural" what they really mean is that it's "disagreeable" (to the one speaking). I suppose this does give us some idea of the speaker's attitude about a given topic, but it's not really conveying much in the way of factual information. Others may actually be referring to the "supernatural" when they call something unnatural. This may give us some indication of the speaker's mental health, but (again) it's not really very helpful in matters of fact.

Basically, if anything actually exists, it cannot logically be "unnatural." Of course, it's only natural that many people are confused about this.

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