My comment is here.
What interests me about this section in relation to the usage of “tools” is the wide variety of man-made structures Thoreau references in relation to natural structures–the human social experience is not so different from the natural experience at all. Spaces for human interaction, then, are not so much tools as they are a means to facilitate further interaction. They can be used, of course, for practical purposes, much in the same way that nature’s resources and wonders can, but there is also an extra, more metaphysical level. Likewise, the Internet offers a wide variety of practical services, yet it also serves as a conduit for unprecedented levels of human interaction and knowledge-gathering.
