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ewashburn's picture

I can see what you mean by

I can see what you mean by saying, "At its core, evolution is about perpetual changing." However, I don't think you've been entirely close-minded in saying that evolution is exclusively applied to organisms, especially with the counter-examples of language and culture. Language and culture are created and changed by organisms. I think that the phrase "evolution" applies to anything alive, but only to things that are alive, as was said during the expansion-vs.-evolution kerfluffle. It is through the process of living that evolution occurs, whether it be the personal evolution of an organism or the larger, collective evolution of many organisms and the effect that such evolution has on language and culture. To claim that evolution applies to anything that changes, even non-living objects, is to trivialize the importance of an organism's agency to change itself and to change the things around it. Rocks and pieces of furniture don't change; they are changed by the living organisms around them. Stars don't change; they are changed by the astrophysical forces which control them. To perpetuate and experience evolution, I still think you have to be a living organism, even if "evolution" is taken to mean all perpetual changing.

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