Next Nature

Next Nature is a philosophical concept that states that human cultural activity creates a new kind of nature distinct from "old" nature. The term Next Nature was coined by the Dutch artist and scientist Koert Van Mensvoort. The subject was further explored in the book Next Nature.^[1] Next Nature is a subset of postmodern philosophy. In keeping with postmodern tenets, it rejects dualist oppositions between the real and the virtual, and between man, machines, animals and nature.

According to Next Nature, humanity is increasingly controlling and shaping the natural environment. Much of so-called "old" nature, from trees to atoms to the climate, have now become human cultural categories. At the same time, products of human culture, such as domesticated crops or computer viruses, are able to outgrow human control and become autonomous and unpredictable. Common notions of what constitutes nature and culture are trading places. The central idea of Next Nature is that nature, rather than a static entity, is a dynamic force that interacts with and changes along with humans culture.

Origins of Next Nature

Next natural phenomena arose with the beginnings of the Anthropocene. Next nature began with the behavioral modernity of Homo sapiens, and accelerated during the Industrial Revolution, the Green Revolution and the Information Age. Over time, the expanding influence of humanity on earth has replaced old nature with next nature. Anthropogenic events such as global warming and pollution, agriculture, the Holocene Extinction, mass communications and globalization have all greatly contributed to the spread of next nature.

Definitions of Next Nature

• The nature caused by people
• Culturally emerged nature
• When second nature becomes first nature

Significance of Next Nature

Next nature provides a framework to explain the current relationship between culture and nature.^[2] It has much in common with the philosophies of cyborg theory and posthumanism, in that it posits that the ontological boundaries between categories such as humanity, nature, and technology are context-dependent and in flux. The traditional, simplified definitions of nature and culture ascribed everything born, evolved or naturally occurring to nature, and everything purposefully made or manipulated to human culture. Through human technological advances, not to mention changing philosophical approaches, these traditional definitions are no longer adequate.

According to Next Nature, a more useful means to divide nature and culture is between the "controllable" and the "autonomous." In keeping with Ulrich Beck's notion of the risk society, Next Nature holds that anthropogenic systems become unpredictable once they become sufficiently large and complex. While supposedly wild realms such as national parks can be highly controlled or at least influenced by human activity, human technologies and cultural memes show signs of autonomous behavior and evolution. Therefore, culture can be transformed into nature and vice versa, and the declining biodiversity in nature is matched by a growing diversity in next nature. The book Volume 18: After Zero contains a visual essay exploring next nature. ^[3]

Examples of Next Nature

Next Nature phenomena range from the merely imitative, such as plastic flowers, to manmade systems that rival natural ecologies in their complexity and unpredictability, such as the internet. Other examples include:

• People know more corporate logos than local plant or animal species ^[4]
• Cell phones, once second nature, are now first nature and feel like a natural part of the body.
• Highly manipulated plants and animals (either through breeding or genetic manipulation) can seem more authentic than the original version. Most people would recognize a domesticated banana as more “real” than a wild banana.
• Video games and online social networks restructure human social interactions to feel more tribal. See Marshall McLuhan's definition of the “global village.”
• Different designs of a razor can evolve following the same logic as a living organism.
• A child remarks that the forest smells like shampoo, rather than the shampoo smelling like a forest.^[5]
• The global economy is in large part controlled by autonomous computer algorithms.^[6]

Next Nature Initiatives

The Next Nature Foundation is an Amsterdam-based think tank that creates publications, events, and runs the website Nextnature.net. Every few years Next Nature produces the Power Show, which brings together theorists, scientists and artists for a multidisciplinary conference. The Next Nature Lab is an initiative of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The lab produces projects such as the ECO Emissions Reduction Currency System and the Nano Supermarket.

See also

• Hyperreality
• Posthumanism
• Noosphere
• Anthropocene
• Built environment
• Risk Society
• Cyberspace

References

1. ^ Next Nature.Van Mensvoort, Gerritzen, Schwarz (Eds.) BIS Publishers (2005), ISBN 90-636-9093-2, pp. 4-43
2. ^ "Exploring Next Nature" in Entry Paradise, New Design Worlds. Gerhard Seltman, Werner Lippert (Eds), Birkhauser (2006), ISBN 37-643-7696-1
3. ^ Arjen Oosterman (Author), Ole Bouman (Author), Rem Koolhaas (Author), Mark Wigley (Author), Jeffrey Inaba (Author) http://www.amazon.com/dp/9077966188
4. ^ What Studying Nature has Taught Us http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/814
5. ^ The Woods Smell of Shampoo http://vimeo.com/22227237
6. ^ How Algorithms Shape Our World http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_slavin_how_algorithms_shape_our_world.html

External links

• The website for the Next Nature Foundation [1]
• The Next Nature Power Show [2]
• Head of the Graphic Design Museum in Holland, Mieke Gerritzen, talks about Next Nature [3]
• Real Nature is Not Green: Visions on Next Nature (DVD), All Media, Amsterdam, ISBN 978-90-811655-5-6