A somewhat scientifically controversial idea put forth by Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson, the biophilia hypothesis is the idea that humans evolved as creatures intricantly enmeshed with the intracies of nature, and this affinity is embedded in our genotype. According to this idea, humans have an intrinsic need for meaningful contact with other life-forms.

David Harmon takes this idea a step further: “I suppose we are waiting for a cultural analog of the biophilia hypothesis, one which does not merely claim that cultural diversity is ‘interesting’ but one that explains why contact with cultural diversity makes us fully human.”