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I thought it just meant to delegate power from a higher level of government to more local governments. I don’t recall ever seeing it used to imply any sort of b
by mikeash 7y ago
I thought it just meant to delegate power from a higher level of government to more local governments. I don’t recall ever seeing it used to imply any sort of backward movement.
- nyolfen 7y agoha! you're right, i'd never come across the term and thought it was simply being used as the inverse of evolution. i rescind.
- mikeash 7y agoFair enough. This stupid language can be confusing.
- leetcrew 7y agoyou're kinda both right. in the specific context of governance, it means what you said with no particular negative connotation. in more general use, it is often used to mean a transition to some more degenerate state. you can see this in the more commonly used "devolve". as an aside, it's interesting to note that a similar thing happens with the word "degenerate". usually it means inferior, primitive, etc., but in mathematics it has no such connotation (eg, a degenerate triangle where the vertices are collinear).