The planet didn’t invent any of those things. Lemons are a man-made hybrid of other citrus. Libraries are even more a man-made invention. And so are trains and train lovers. We don’t need to be given sweetness. We can make it ourselves.
Humans are not a separate entity from “the planet” in this sense. If the planet invented single-celled life billions of years ago, it invented us and everything we invent.
I don’t disagree. We tend to segregate natural and artificial processes, but artificial things are always natural things by extension for the reasons you mentioned.
I drew upon this distinction, though, because the idea in the post was that the world gives us things that make it sweet. I was pointing out that we can, and have, also apply agency to the world to make those good things. That we don’t have to wait for good things to be given to us. Sometimes the universe can be very stingy with that sweetness on its own. But we can make the sweetness we need for ourselves and others too.
The planet didn’t invent any of those things. Lemons are a man-made hybrid of other citrus. Libraries are even more a man-made invention. And so are trains and train lovers. We don’t need to be given sweetness. We can make it ourselves.
Humans are not a separate entity from “the planet” in this sense. If the planet invented single-celled life billions of years ago, it invented us and everything we invent.
I don’t disagree. We tend to segregate natural and artificial processes, but artificial things are always natural things by extension for the reasons you mentioned.
I drew upon this distinction, though, because the idea in the post was that the world gives us things that make it sweet. I was pointing out that we can, and have, also apply agency to the world to make those good things. That we don’t have to wait for good things to be given to us. Sometimes the universe can be very stingy with that sweetness on its own. But we can make the sweetness we need for ourselves and others too.