The Beautiful Imperfection Of Nature.

Our faces aren't symmetrical. But we don't register this as something wrong. It seems the logic of imperfection is built into both our minds and evolution. If we take a small hand-mirror and place it in the middle of a photograph of the human face,we will have perfect symmetry. The left side of the image will reflect perfectly as we look in the mirror,and we will see a perfect face. But guess what? It looks decidedly ODD!. So paradoxically what we would predict,through common sense, as an experiment that should produce perfection turns out to create a less than satisfactory facsimile.

So perfection is proven to be imperfect and imperfection strangely perfect.

The master craftsmen and artists of past ages knew this and would deliberately incorporate imperfections into their work so as not to try and compete with the perfection of Nature and so as not to be an insult to God.

 

Some of nature's imperfections are not beautiful though GED!

The imperfect genes that produce disabilities in babies..

I wish as clever as humans are, we could learn how to change genetics, and move clouds..

Mother nature tries her best, but just sometimes....

 

Imperfection allows randomness,and randomness is necessary for there to be free-will. A perfect World would not allow evolution,which is essential to life.

 

The idea that a symmetrical face would be more perfect than an asymmetrical one is a human mental construct. Something we project onto nature.

Reminds me of pre-scientific ideas about the cosmos. The circle was seen as the most perfect form, and it was expected that planets would have perfectly circular orbits. They don't of course - the orbits are elliptical.

 

There is no free will with nature, that's the point in it..

But not all nature is perfect and good..

 

not all of anything is anything.
nature functions though, and our existence depends on it.
the aesthetics of it, are secondary and as much in our perception as anything else.
i love it for its imperfections certainly
and for its universal wonder of strangeness

 

My face is pretty symmetrical and I reap the benefits of it. People regard me as a trusty and likeable person muhahaha!

 

not all perfection is good, nor all harm chaotic.

 

Indeed,the Earth itself is not a perfect sphere. Due to the centrifugal force of it's spin it creates a marked bulge at the equator.

 

It makes much more sense to view nature and the cosmos in terms of order(ly) and chaos/chaotic forces, rather than good and bad (or even worse: evil). Order is perceived as good (because it is in terms of more beneficial to thrive on than chaos) but temporarily. Some people or their goals thrive better on chaos (which other people perceive to be evil as it is less beneficial for them)

 

Wabi-sabi

 

Hadn't heard of that before. Sounds very interesting in the Wikipedia article I just looked at. Thanks.

 

There's an ancient Greek proverb which translates as "The way up is the same way down", implying that there is more than one way to "skin a cat".

 

Perfection is for those who never watched the right cartoons.

Nature is creative and couldn't care less about either perfection or imperfection. The idea that anything is either perfect or imperfect is just somebody's headtrip.

 

We already can move clouds and cause hurricanes and things....I don't think man should have that much power, as he does not always use it for good.....and do you want everything to become genetically programmed by man?

 

Abby and Brittany

 

No, but I would like to stop the suffering of children and adults because of genes... Surely you would want that too?

 

Yes, I am all for that, of course....but I do fight against the stepford idea.....and mankind's opinion on what perfect is.

 

We tend to fall into the attitude that it's humans on one hand and nature on the other. But really we're part of nature. Maybe an important part. An creature that can manipulate nature in ways others simply can't. For good or ill. We've been doing it for thousands of years. It's part of human nature.

Don't see anything 'un-natural' in us manipulating genes as a form of therapy or disease prevention. We're already doing it to some degree on the basis of what we eat. Vitamin D for example controls the expression of over 1,000 genes.If you don't get enough, those genes won't function optimally. The difference nowadays is that we are starting to understand the way nature works. We'd be fools not to take advantage of such knowledge. But obviously, we need to be careful. Some things we can and should do, others might lead only to more problems. I'm not a great fan of GM crops for instance, but even there I can see advantages.

What we need is the wisdom and understanding to use our knowledge and capacities for the benefit of the whole eco system.

 

Indeed, humans are of nature, we came to evolve from this very planet, and are its perfect products. It's not us here, it there. We should strive for that synthesis, and to see it in that way, it helps foster a better care and understanding.

We do indeed need to foster wisdom and understanding, as we grow more and more knowledgeable about how nature works, there are great benefits that the study of it and science has provided, and with care and attention, we can ensure that we utilize its gifts properly, and understand that we are just as much a part of it as any other plant or animal, no matter how much concrete and metal we build to keep us away from it.