Artificial

When something is artificial, or man-made, it has been made by humans, not nature. For example, an artificial satellite is one made by humans, while a natural satellite is a satellite that was not made by humans. Many artificial things imitate or copy things found in nature. The imitation may use the same basic materials like those in the natural object, or it may use quite different materials like in artificial leather. They are concepts in defining reality. There are different ideas about what can be considered artificial and what is natural.

The word "artificial" comes from the Latin words art (meaning "skill") and fex ("to make").

Artificial does not necessarily mean synthetic (meaning created by synthesis). An artificial sweetener imitates sweetness by using a chemical formula that is not found in nature. That makes it both artificial and synthetic.

Some disasters are natural, but some are man-made like the Dust Bowl in the United States.

References

Related pages

Artifact (disambiguation)
Ontology

Category:Technology
Category:Anthropology