Descartes has alot to answer for!

However ludicrous Descartes' ideas seem now, he was of an entirely different era and I can't blame him for just trying to figure it all out. On the other hand, with notions like "we are separate from nature' and "Most of the universe is dead" he somehow managed to have a profound influence on western thought, which in my opinion has set us back by hundreds of years. I wonder where western culture would be now if we weren't operating from belief systems that reinforce a disconnect between us and nature.