The Phish vs. Dead debate seems to have been much more relevant in 1994 when one band was on the rise and other was in decline and Deadheads were wondering if the Phish musical scene was where they wanted to venture into. For most veteran older deadheads at the time Phish was too abrasive for them or the songs just too silly (Contact) which could never be compared to Robert Hunter's lyrics, which were a big part of the Dead's popularity. But a lot of the mid 80's fans (and especially Touch of Grey era fans) made their way to Phish. There is no real reason to rehash this debate anymore since I suspect many of the Phish fans post-GD (those who never saw the Dead or began to like Phish around '97 or jumped on the Phish wagon in 2.0 or after) probably don't care. So from a nostalgia standpoint it is always fun to read someone's take on the Dead's jamming style as "a journey" and Phish's as "getting there" (I am assuming this is the order vs. disorder theme used here), but other than that and their different styles (beyond the simplistic description of jamband) there really is no comparison. As has been suggested in the comments, the wombs from which these two bands emerged from were completely different, i.e. time, place, environment, etc. that any correlations made between the two bands for me are a coincidence or some of the Dead rubbing off on Phish. Currently my take on the two bands is from the drummer(s) standpoint (when the Dead played with two drummers). This is the most obvious difference for me. The sound and foundation of the drums in each band is completely different and sets up a lot of the style in each band's music especially in their live sound. The other main difference is Phish still can't really play a song, a melodic song, not the way the Dead did, Phish fans may not necessarily need that, but deadheads do.