Virginia Postrel has a post discussing our current aversion to "artificial" by reexamining the story of 19th century resistance to "artificial" ice, which wasn't true.
She observes nature in the 19th century was something to be mastered. As in the movie African Queen, nature is something humans must rise above.
In the 20th century the interests behind the "natural" products: butter, milk, use that fact to fight against the innovations which threaten their markets: margarine, oat milk, etc.
Counter-factual--while fighting nature, conquering the continent has been a meme in American history, valuing nature over the artificial also has a long history. Look at Thoreau and his reaction to the railroad and telegraph.
No comments:
Post a Comment