In many areas of modern intellectual thought, the concept of nature has shifted from the old victorian framework of 'red in tooth and claw' to 'nigh-perfect, beautifully optimized clockwork masterpiece of creation that is the ideal state of all things.'

The irony of course is that this newer perception of nature can exist in great part because we as westerners are so shielded from its full fury. We often interact with it in very controlled settings, Toiling away in a suburban garden; taking a pleasant hike through a local park with upkept nature trails and no predators bigger than the occasional skittish coyote; gawking at exotic beasts at the zoo behind the safety of glass and concrete. Every so often we get an unwelcome reminder when a tornado rips through a town or a mountain lion decides to snack on some pets, but otherwise we really don't deal with it in the way our ancestors (or even a sizeable chunk of the world population living in poor rural areas) did/do.

Anyone who actually deeply studies and/or works with nature (myself included) is very aware that nature is absolutely beautiful and incredibly complex, but also devilishly brutal and uncaring in equal measure.

Profound