Three Criteria for Environmental Authenticity

Broadly, I endorse the view that biodiverse species and spaces warrant conservation in virtue of their power to induce epistemic, relational, and positive, psycho-physiological transformation. However, if we are able to construct cross-modally replete simulations of biodiverse environments, then what reason would we have to conserve genuine, biodiverse ecosystems? In order to address this “Simulation Problem,” I argue that the authenticity of biodiverse environments matters, both in itself and insofar as authenticity plays an important psychological, cultural, personal, and epistemic role in the lives of human agents.