Tuesday 23 August 2011

Guitar evolution and the misuse of language


I posted on this issue before, but its very important. Words should mean what they mean, or else language routinely misleads and honest debate is impossible. As one of Lewis Carrol's characters said in Alice in Wonderland, 'when I use a word, it means exactly what I intend it to mean.' (PS for those who don't know, Alice in Wonderland is a satirical fantasy). In science, words must mean something precise and agreed.

In this video, the guitarist discusses the merits of the DiMarzio 'evolution' guitar pickup.

However, and very obviously, the pickup was intelligently designed. So why is it called 'evolution'?

On BBC radio 4 last week, a man was being interviewed about the London 2112 Olympic games. Describing how the buildings and security arangements were coming on, he used the term 'evolving' or 'evolve' three times. Again, clearly there is intelligent design input going on here.

Does this matter? Yes. anyone who struggles through Darwin's appallingly badly written book 'Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life' cannot fail to note the mangling of language and use of circular and self referential argument which characterises it. Amongst other offenses against science and logic, Darwin pointedly refused to define what is meant by a species. How come? So he could use the word 'species' to mean whatever he wanted it to mean, to avoid the risk of falsification. As then, so now. Define a word vaguely to prevent it being held down and seriously examined.

I repeat, because it matters, if the word 'evolution' simple means 'change over time', then we need a different word to describe the imaginary Darwinian process whereby hydrogen atoms from the supposed big bang turn into people without the intervention of a designing and creative intelligence.

Language, like guitar music, is allowed to change over time, but if the widely understood meaning of words becomes too vague, they become useless-other than to mislead. Darwinians need to be consistent, accurate and scientific over the use of language. They should come down hard on the use of the term 'evolution' to describe any process which involves forward thinking, teamwork, design or planning, or else invent a new word for the process by which Darwin and his follwers imagine plants, animals and humans to have emerged from dirty water. If they will do neither, they will have to learn to live with accusations of using slippery propaganda to mislead a gullible public.

1 comment:

  1. LOL! The term evolution as used in scientific papers does have a rather precise technical meaning. Was either the DiMarzio guitar piece or the interview on the Olympics a technical scientific paper?

    Two hours a week dedicated to writing this sanctimonious horsecrap and zero hours a week to research and actually understand what you're blithering about. Excellent use of your time there Bunky.

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