This shows a different perspective...

I was was discussing with my aunt about why she stopped taking medication (specifically her pill). She has been on a "everything synthetic is bad because its unnatural"-trip lately. A substance "X" extracted and purified from a plant is not the same as substance "X" synthetically produced. Because one is "natural" and the other isn't. And apparently the body recognizes this difference and therefore reacts positively to substance "X" that was extracted from plants while not reacting or showing bad results with the synthetic compound.

I tried to explain to her that its the same substance. 1:1, no chemical difference. She then argued that chemical synthesis is unnatural and all those methods created by humans to produce those substances are "unnatural".

And then I wondered. Aren't humans natural? We came from nature. We are part of nature, our bodies, minds, ideas, actions all a result of nature. So the methods we use to make things are also natural, making chemical synthesis natural.

Why do we see ourselves as some alien tribe that was put on earth to destroy it? As if we are not part of it. But we actually are. And we are just some tiny chapter in the story of earth.