“So what are we really talking about when we talk about natural? It depends…”

So what are we really talking about when we talk about natural? It depends; the adjective is impressively slippery, its use steeped in dubious assumptions that are easy to overlook. Perhaps the most incoherent of these is the notion that nature consists of everything in the world except us and all that we have done or made. In our heart of hearts, it seems, we are all creationists.

Michael Pollan, “Altered States”, The New York Times Magazine (3 May 2015), 16.