Evolution and Language
After participating in a few debates on this sub, I’ve been genuinely surprised at how much confusion still surrounds this topic. In particular, I noticed **several** people asking to see “transitional fossils”, imagining that if evolution were real, it would produce several “half-monkey-half-man” type creatures. This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution.
Evolution is a continuous process. Each new generation is nearly identical to their parents. They also possess several minor differences that can potentially be passed to their descendants. As such, every living species is a “transitional species” between its ancestors and its descendants.
I came across an absolutely fantastic analogy earlier today, and I want to share it because I think it will help some people gain a better understanding of evolution:
Language evolves.
As I’m sure you know, languages change over time. New words are gradually introduced: some get picked up, and some disappear after just one generation. Sometimes words get repurposed and their meaning is changed forever. Modern slang occasionally gets selected for formal use. We have some records of ancient Latin before it gave rise to French and Spanish. We have Bibles written in koine Greek, and it’s drastically different from modern Greek. However, because the changes to the language occurred so gradually, there is never anyone speaking “half-ancient-half-modern”. Each generation is its own transition forward.
Consider that analogy, such that new words/phrases/pronunciations are akin to traits, and the transition is much more intuitive!
I hope that helps!