Random Thoughts On The Nature Of Things

funny-pictures-interesting-catHello everyone,

First, I am now a Google Waver! Find me at zeneece@googlewave.com. I started my first public wave for atheists: Atheists Unite!

Secondly, I must confess my ignorance on a certain matter that has been bouncing around my brain for some time. I have asked my genius husband Butch and he didn't have an answer, which made me feel better.

I'll start with an example:

I always thought aspirin was found in the bark of white willows, and then was made in the lab. But the history seems to be entirely in the laboratory, according to Wikipedia. Also there does seem to be a connection between white willow bark and eventually aspirin.

Needless to say these days, aspirin is made strictly in the lab/factory. My question is, if things are made strictly from chemicals, where do the chemicals themselves come from? And a followup question would be, wouldn't that make everything natural, at some point? Doesn't everything eventually lead back to nature?

Another example:

Black Gold, petroleum, crude oil. It's considered this unnatural thing. But didn't it come from rotting vegetation and other natural organic matter?

When does something natural become something synthetic?

Why are natural things considered superior to synthetic things nowadays? Is there some proof that it's true? Or is it marketing/propaganda?

I'm not trying to start anything, or as the Brits would say, I'm not trying to have a go at synthetics. I really just want to understand. If the red food dye and flavoring in my drink stick mix is synthetic, where did the chemicals that make it up come from?

I would love your feedback and thoughts on this. But please, I took chemistry in high school which was over 20 years ago (egads, that made me feel old), so keep it simple.

Thanks friends! :)

18 comments:

  1. Yes and no. Many if not most drugs originated as herbal remedies. The active ingredient is still often a naturally occurring chemical. What makes the natural form of some substances healthier is the combination of elements that our bodies have spent hundreds of thousands of years adapting to. We need enzymes to break things down and various chemicals to aid in absorbing and metabolizing different substances.

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  2. Since when is petroleum considered unnatural?

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  3. what something synthetic is the refinement in the lab. plus many times, the name of the ingredient is just the chemical name. i think something is synthetic because it is "put together", synthesized in the lab rather than harvested, or whatever. it helps conserve the naturally occurring item or product. if someone else got better explanation? but i think that is it in a nutshell.

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  4. The way I see it, if it occurs in nature close to the form used, it is a natural product. If it goes through excessive refinement and other changes to reach the final product, it is an unnatural product. But yes, if you go back far enough, everything is natural..... Except maybe things made from non-naturally occurring elements. An important thing to note about aspirin is that it is derived from the white willow, not found in it.

    I did a little research on this after hearing the lyrics of a particular poem/song by a songwriter that I found out about on this site.

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  5. Check this Wiki entry on the History of Aspirin Neece (in-case you hadn't seen it already).

    As for the synthetic versus natural, at the most basic of definitions it becomes synthetic when humans combine multiple natural items in a way that does not occur naturally.

    I've also heard argued that if it requires equipment to make, then its not natural.

    Without sounding too conspiracy theory some products have gone synthetic because of corporate and political influence. But some also went that way because it was cheaper to produce, and some because the natural product couldn't keep up with demand. And some because the synthetic was simply a superior product. I think people's better understanding of environmental effect, along with the information age showing them how some of these products are produced, has led to reversal in demand, making more natural things more popular.

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  6. Thanks Stringman. Yes, that's a good point, that naturally occurring substances are complex and might have different ways of being broken down by the body than an isolated chemical that will be processed differently without all of the enzymes and good things.

    Of course, there's something to be said for standardization, too. As well as quality control. I mean, when you buy an herb or pick a leaf to eat, you don't know exactly how much of the active ingredient you're actually getting. Whereas if you take a pill for something, it's exactly the same as all the other pills.

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  7. Actually, I think it is, but my impression that I'm talking about is how average people seem to talk about it and think about petroleum as some unnatural thing.

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  8. That makes sense, Kaion, thanks!

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  9. Weird! My comments were getting flagged as spam. LOL!

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  10. Weird! Thanks for unflagging them. :)

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  11. Thanks for the link, Johnny. I looked on Wikipedia for that but I guess I didn't search for that exact title and therefore didn't find it. That's exactly what I was looking for, though! :D

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  12. People used to belief that any substance that was made by plants or animals could not be duplicated by man in a laboratory. Acetylsalicylic acid was the very first natural substance that was made by man, and therefore this belief was proven not true.

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  13. aspirin is a good anti-inflammatory still in use today. `,`

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  14. And a pain reliever, of course. Thanks Daniel. :)

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  15. That's interesting, Andries!

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  16. aspirin is one of the safest anti-inflammatories that you can use for lots of things''~

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