[natecavanaugh]

> I think it actually is pretty common for people to refer to certain natural events as "mother nature" "telling" us something.

True though it should be a shorthand, convenient way of saying it, but I've seen it derail many a discussion when people get hung up on the abstract aspect.

> "Tell" might be something only humans can do or it might be more generally any signal from some entity that induces behavior in a living organism.

That's where it gets interesting because many times (though definitely not all), many of our communication is biologically or environmentally driven, so it's often tough even among humans what we're truly trying to communicate. It's a fascinating interplay between different parts of ourselves that we're trying to express :)