• Umbrias@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    All of these types of plastic you’re using as counterexamples are more distinct from each other than they are from biological polymers.

    Plastics are a ridiculously diverse group of chemicals, not including naturally occurring polymers is anthropocentric and not always useful.

    • stoneparchment@possumpat.io
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      1 year ago

      What, in your opinion, is the semantic difference between the words plastic and polymer?

      What is your word of choice to distinguish between naturally occurring and lab-made polymers?

      • Umbrias@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        It depends on the context. Sometimes plastic is good for that, but in this case I don’t believe that it is.

        Plastic is not a rigorous term. When discussing specific plastics it’s petty much always better to describe specifics, because plastics are too diverse of chemistry to do anything else.