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What is Next Nature?

With our attempts to cultivate nature, humankind causes the rising of a next nature, which is wild and unpredictable as ever. Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us.

What is Next Nature?

Today, the human impact on our planet can hardly be underestimated. Climate change, synthetic biology, mass urbanization – ‘We were here’ echoes all over. Although many people have tried to improve our relationship with nature, few have asked the elementary question ‘what is nature?’.

This website will radically shift your notion of nature. Our image of nature as static, balanced and harmonic is naive and up for reconsideration. Where technology and nature are traditionally seen as opposed, they now appear to merge or even trade places.

We must no longer see ourselves as the anti-natural species that merely threatens and eliminates nature, but rather as catalysts of evolution. With our urge to design our environment we create a ‘next nature’ which is unpredictable as ever: wild software, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us!

To learn more about the next nature philosophy, get our Next Nature Book, the Next Nature Appzine for iPad, visit the theme page or watch the video lecture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Next Nature?

Next nature is the nature caused by people. That may sound like a contradiction, but it isn’t. Our cultural artifacts have become so intricate and autonomous that they function more like organisms or ecologies than like inanimate things.

Is there a definition of next nature?

Next Nature is culturally emerged nature.

Nature is changing along with us. What do you mean by that?

Old nature, in the sense of trees, plants, animals, atoms, or climate, is getting increasingly controlled and governed by man. It has turned into a cultural category. At the same time, products of culture, which we used to be in control of man, tend to outgrow us and become autonomous. Our notions of nature and culture seem to be trading places. The ‘natural powers’ shift to another field.

Culturally emerged nature? You mean plastic flowers?

Plastic flowers are fake nature. Plastic flowers try to look like nature, but they are simply cultural artifacts. Next nature, on the other hand, is still real nature. It is not a representation or a simulation of a long-lost phenomenon. It may be hard to say what next nature is, but we can sure tell you what it is not: fake.

Traditionally, how were nature and culture defined?

In the past, nature was traditionally defined as the “born,” or everything that came into existence naturally. Culture was the “made,” or everything created by human intention.

According to next nature, how can nature and culture be defined?

A more useful method to divide nature and culture is between the “controllable” and the “autonomous.” Next natural phenomena arise from cultural products that have become so complex that we relate to them more as organisms or ecologies.

When does nature become culture?

Old nature can be cultivated and controlled through processes such as domestication or landscape management, turning nature into culture.

When does culture become nature?

A cultural product or phenomenon turns into nature when it becomes partially or entirely autonomous and uncontrollable. The prime examples of this are the global economy, computer viruses, and transgenic or domesticated organisms that escape into the wild.

How does nature change along with human culture?

Nature is not static. It is a dynamic force that evolves along with biological and manmade processes. From wild animals to atoms to the climate, humans are increasingly able to manipulate natural processes. At the same time our culture and technology are becoming more complex, more intricate, and more difficult to control. Through both intentional and unintentional acts, human culture causes the rising of a next nature.

When did next nature begin?

Next natural phenomena arose with the beginnings of the Anthropocene – the geological era characterized by the dominance of humans. 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.

Are nature and culture becoming the same thing?

Next nature does not mean to abolish the boundaries between culture and nature. Rather, we’d like to redefine them as the “controllable” and the “autonomous”.

What do you mean by “old nature”?

Old nature is the part of nature still untainted by human influence. Parts of the deep sea and the South Pole may be unaffected, although with climate change and the cycling of pollutants through the ocean, this is becoming less true by the day. Outside of the moon and earth’s ring of satellites, the rest of space still counts as old nature.

What do most people think of when they think of nature?

Most people might mention trees, wild animals, the green of the rainforest or the blue of the ocean. We tend to view nature as something that is always retreating, in danger of being lost – although it never disappears entirely. In abstract terms, nature can be infinite, inaccessible, or fearsome, but it can also be delicate, harmonious, and peaceful. Nature is a destination, where we go to relax, to play or to self-actualize. Where “real” nature is not is wherever humans are: our homes, the internet, cities, video games, factories and labs.

Why is this view naïve?

Untouched, authentic nature may no longer even exist, at least on earth. It certainly can’t be found in city parks, or on the windowsill where the cat is sleeping. With the possible exception of areas in the deep ocean, even the most wild places on earth are crisscrossed by human communication and travel networks, polluted by plastics and chemicals, and warmed by anthropogenic climate change.

Why not call it “New Nature”?

The term ‘new nature’ would assume a single break boundary between old and new nature. Using the term ‘next nature’ emphasizes that nature should never be seen as a static entity, but rather as a dynamic force that changes along with us. Evolution goes on. With every attempt to cultivate our environment we cause a new setting, a new situation, a next nature. Next nature is as old as humanity. If you count tool use by extinct hominids or other intelligent species, next nature might be even older.

Why not call it “Post Nature”?

The term ‘post nature’ would assume the end of nature, as if there was a single boundary with nature. The term ‘next nature’ better emphasizes that nature should never be seen as a static entity, but rather as a dynamic force that changes along with us.

What do you mean with the phrase “forward to nature”?

People often say “back to nature” to mean a return to a simpler and more old-fashioned way of living. It’s framed as a nostalgic act. However, some new technologies like Facebook or mobile phones can actually help people to live a more natural, tribal means of existence. Next Nature doesn’t take us back to nature, but forward to it.

Is next nature in opposition to old nature?

The decline of biological diversity is clearly matched by a growth in technological and cultural diversity, but next nature does not make any judgements about which form of nature is more valuable than the other. We are certainly as opposed to species loss, habitat destruction, and global warming as anyone else – possibly even more. If next nature were to make any value calls, we would argue that increased diversity is “better” than decreased diversity, in any area.

Where can nature be found?

As Heraclitus said, nature likes to hide itself. Our goal at Next Nature is to root out examples of nature from human cultural activities.

Can you give a few examples of next nature?
- People can identify more corporate logos than species of local plants or animals.
- Cell phones, once second nature, are now first nature. They feel like a natural extension of your body or of your identity.
- Highly altered plants and animals (either through selective breeding or genetic manipulation) can seem more authentic than the original version. Many people would recognize a domesticated banana as more “banana-like” than a wild banana.
- Video games and online social networks restructure human social interactions to feel more tribal.
- 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.
- The global economy is in large part controlled by autonomous computer algorithms.
Why do you use the word ‘nature’ for these phenomena?

Though some of these examples may seem purely cultural, they are natural when considered from the perspective of next nature. When culture functions like nature, or when culture seems more “natural” than nature, it becomes next nature.

Is next nature related to ongoing scientific research?

Nanotechnology, Genetic manipulation, Ambient intelligence, Tissue engineering, Neuroscience, Social Software, Soft Architecture. All of these young research fields radically interfere with our sense of what is ‘natural’. They are connected in the next nature research.

Further reading

Next Nature intro by Bruce Sterling

This project is about Nature’s brand image. One might surmise that “Nature,” being 100 percent all-natural, can’t have any brand image. The facts suggest otherwise. Try it for yourself: tell a friend that something seemingly 100 percent natural is actually [...]
Razorius Gilletus – On the Origin of a Next Species

Is the evolution of the single bladed razor into an exorbitant five–bladed vibrating gizmo the outcome of human needs, or is there another force in play? Say hello to Razorius Gillettus, one of the new species emerging from our technoeconomic [...]
The World without Technology

I remember the smoke the most. That pungent smell permeating the camps of tribal people. Everything they touch is infused with the lingering perfume of smoke — their food, shelter, tools, and art. Everything. Even the skin of the youngest [...]
Real Nature is not Green

At the edge of the woods along the motorway near the Dutch town of Bloemendaal, there stands a mobile telephone mast disguised as a pine tree. This mast is not nature: at best, it is a picture of nature. It [...]

Visual introduction

What is NextNature.net?

The Next Nature Network explores the changing relation between people, nature and technology. We aim to visualize, research and understand the implications of the nature caused by people. We initiate publications in various media (websites, books, DVD, products, games, magazines, software, etc) and organize events. The Next Nature Foundation is based in Amsterdam. Our Next Nature Lab is connected to the Industrial Design department of the Eindhoven University of Technology.

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