Re: The opposite..

PTD wrote:
> fields wrote:
> >
> > > I'm not convinced that you mean "devolved".
> >
> > > Why not? It got semantically bleached (that's a technical term) > from a
> > > highly specific sense to a general (one might say debased) one -- > the
> > > opposite of evolution.
> >
> > But evolution is not a directed process, and the opposite of
> evolution
> is stasis.
>
> Are you claiming that semantic bleaching is a "directed process,"
> whatever that would be?

No, I made no representations on the topic of "semantic bleaching" at all.

> And no, if evolution is a net decrease in entropy, then its opposite is
> not stasis, but a net increase in entropy.
> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx


This last statement is worth saving, but I'm not sure whether you realize the level of humor involved.

You have a choice now. Either rely upon your use of the conditional and admit that this was irrelevant to my statement, semantically equivalent to "If evolution is pizza with green olives then its opposite is pizza with black olives", or accept a failing grade for the day in biology, physics, and lexicography. The former is the more honorable stance.

A net decrease in entropy is an imaginary beast trotted out by creationists as a wishful attempt to use their misunderstanding of thermodynamics to argue against biology. Local temporary decreases in the entropy of a system are always driven by a net increase in the entropy of that system's surroundings.

Evolution does not mean a net decrease in entropy in any case, and is completely neutral on the topic of entropy. Evolution is just change. The specific change meant in biology is change in the genetic make-up and patterns of genetic exchange of a population, across generations--sometimes leading to two or more sub-populations which no longer exchange genetic materials with each other Evolution includes "simplifications" like the formation of the simple chambers of the nautilus from the incredibly detailed interlinked chambers of ammonites (e.g. http://www.twoguysfossils.com/images/amm_onstand19.jpg, http://tellmewhereonearth.com/Web%20Pages/Pendants/Pendants%20Photos/ammonitecanada1.JPG).

Yes, biology uses the word devolution, to mean the degeneration of a structure within a single living organism. Outside of biology, it means inheritance, delegation, or simply passage through time. Its introduction into biology is exactly the semantic change you seem to be so keen to tell us about. But it isn't the opposite of evolution, and the sense in which you tried to define it is just evolution.

The opposite of evolution is lack of change, i.e. stasis, and the observation of this polarity is generally attributed to Stephen Jay Gould s.v. "punctuated equilibrium".



--
Matthew H. Fields http://www.umich.edu/~fields
Music: Splendor in Sound
"And no, if evolution is a net decrease in entropy, then its opposite is
not stasis, but a net increase in entropy." --P.T.Daniels
.

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