Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring
naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity.
Connotations
Artificiality often carries with it the implication of being false, counterfeit, or deceptive. The philosopher
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
wrote in his ''
Rhetoric'':
However, artificiality does not necessarily have a negative
connotation, as it may also reflect the ability of humans to replicate forms or functions arising in nature, as with an
artificial heart or
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
. Political scientist and artificial intelligence expert
Herbert A. Simon observes that "some artificial things are imitations of things in nature, and the imitation may use either the same basic materials as those in the natural object or quite different materials.
[ Herbert A. Simon, ''The Sciences of the Artificial'' (1996), p. 4.] Simon distinguishes between the artificial and the synthetic, the former being an imitation of something found in nature (for example, an
artificial sweetener which generates
sweetness using a formula not found in nature), and the latter being a replication of something found in nature (for example, a
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
created in a laboratory that is chemically indistinguishable from a naturally occurring sugar).
Some philosophers have gone further and asserted that, in a
deterministic world, "everything is natural and nothing is artificial", because everything in the world (including everything made by humans) is a product of the physical laws of the world.
Distinguishing natural objects from artificial objects
It is generally possible for humans, and in some instances, for computers, to distinguish natural from artificial environments. The artificial environment tends to have more physical regularity both spatially and over time, with natural environments tending to have both irregular structures and structures that change over time.
[Herman Kaken, "Recognition of Natural and Artificial Environments by Computers: Commonalities and Differences", in Juval Portugali, ''Complex Artificial Environments'' (2006), p. 31-48.] However, on close observation it is possible to discern some mathematical structures and
patterns in natural environments, which can then be replicated to create an artificial environment with a more natural appearance.
For example, by identifying and imitating natural means of
pattern formation, some types of
automata have been used to generate organic-looking
textures for more realistic
shading of
3D objects.
See also
*
Cultural artifact
*
Fake (disambiguation)
*
Homo faber
*
Simulation
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...
*
Synthetic (disambiguation)
*
Tamagotchi
References
{{reflist
Culture
Artificial materials