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Aside from popular interest in nature as reassuring entertainment, modern science has taught us that the clues to the structure of our world will not be apparent from its appearances but from its actions. We know that the most interesting feature of a stone is not its outward resemblance to a face or animal. Indeed, this resemblance is a trick to attract weak minds and shoddy theories. We know it is not worth precious time in our busy lives to pay much heed to the false messages of simple random combinations of events. No, the true nature and importance of a stone is revealed in how it performs under tests in the laboratory. We modern citizens are interested in its chemical properties, its geological formation, its engineering possibilities, its usefulness to civilization. We are not fooled by the pernicious illusions of this world, but seek our substance on a different level, the chemical and atomic level, which lies below the skin-deep appearances of the natural world.