1) In chemistry, a term used to describe any
molecule held together by a chain of carbon atoms.
2) Used to describe the characteristics of a living system (for example
a creature's body or an entire habitat) consisting of smoothly running interacting parts and shaped by the processes of Darwinian evolution.
3) As an analogy in the creative process, used to describe a work such as a novel or movie script made in such a way that the various parts developed as they were written/painted/whatever, one from another, rather than sticking rigidly to a
preconceived plan.
4) In popular culture, a term applied in line with the most rabid intentions of New Age
pseudoscience, ultimately from the mouths of people who would like to have scientists burned at the stake. Much favoured by people who use chemical as an unqualified
snarl word. Artificial fertilisers are decried as poison, despite the fact that they contain the same chemical compounds that plants derive from "natural" fertilisers; if these compounds were real poisons, our
biosphere would have been in serious
doo-doo long ago. Anything coming from a lab is allegedly
ipso facto evil and foul, even if its molecular structure is identical to that of compounds found in Nature.
Genetic engineering is seen as the foul left hand of Satan, based on arguments that are about as rational as those for the existence of the fellah downstairs, too. Organic farming is held by its propagandists to be the farming of the future ... and it might be, at least if the human population of the Earth drops by 99 percent. Typical stock in trade arguments from the "organic" movement, as elsewhere in the witchypoo "alternative" movement, consist of appeals to fear, to irrationality and to conspiracy theories about Big Business ... but, such has been the success of the propaganda campaign over the last few decades, nobody seems to subject "organic" produce to the same safety standards. "Organic" production requires far more
acreage than conventional farming methods to produce the same yield. It is typically
shilled for by celebrities, who after all often have more money than sense and can afford to buy the stuff, and much beloved of fad dieters who don't eat that much anyway. All in all, one of the movements that make one genuinely fearful for the future of our technological civilisation.