Post by phantasm on Sept 2, 2018 10:03:04 GMT -6
My brain has been working on a thought experiment for, I don't know, a bunch of days now.
Okay, let's take a bird, let's say it's a cardinal. This cardinal lives in an artificial environment. Let's say it was born and raised in this environment. It lives in an artificial Christmas tree. It builds its nest with copper wire, wire coat hangers, things of that nature. Let's say it has to pay for rent to live in the Christmas tree, and that it has to buy the materials it needs to build its' nest. How does the bird get money? Maybe it's a messenger bird. So it has an income stream. In addition to where it lives, it also has to pay to use a bird bath and buy worms out of a nifty little vending machine. There is a Great Machine that provides trees, wire, water, worms, etc. Everything a bird could ever want or need. Every month the bird breaks even buying all the things it needs to survive. It knows other birds that it shares its tree with and other birds in other nearby artificial Christmas trees.
Now take that bird out of its artificial environment and drop it into the wild-- real trees growing out of real soil. A veritable forest.
In that forest it meets other members of its species living rent-free in real trees. They go about their business doing bird things. They build their nests out of tree twigs. They eat worms they come across. No one has to work for money. They hunt for their food. Worms are abundant in the forest.
Which life should our kidnapped cardinal prefer, the artificial environment or the forest? Which environment is its' natural environment?
Put yourself in the bird's proverbial shoes. What would you want if you were that bird?
Would you rather pay to eat a worm out of a vending machine,, or s slightly dirty worm off the forest floor?
