Should you’ve ever tried studying Chaucer within the unique Center English, then you recognize the sensation. The phrases look virtually acquainted, however your mind can’t fairly piece the puzzle collectively.
Now attempt precise Previous English from the 12 months 900, and also you hit a wall: “Þu sprycst be wundrum þe ic ne mæg understandan.”
That is not a typo. That is an actual letter (þ, known as “thorn”) that English used for hundreds of years earlier than abandoning it completely. Language, as everyone knows, evolves. Simply ask the Gen Z crowd.
Whereas English misplaced most of its grammatical circumstances, it nonetheless regularizes (or remains to be regularizing) irregular verbs. Over time, it has absorbed 1000’s of phrases from French, Latin, Norse, and dozens of different languages.
Fascinated by my love of language (I communicate Spanish, Portuguese, and English fluently), I made a decision to attempt an experiment.
I would give an AI detailed directions to role-play as a historic language scholar who might communicate in any century’s fashion, utilizing period-appropriate vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. And the outcomes bought fairly wild.
Testing the previous
I began with latest centuries to calibrate.
The twentieth century was simple—mid-century formality, nothing alien. The nineteenth century introduced Victorian prospers however remained readable. The fifteenth century bought fascinating.
I defined trendy AI to this medieval persona, and it responded: “By Goddes bones! Machines that will holden discourse lyke unto a person? Certes, this doth seme extra akin to the artes of sorcerie and enchantment!”
Bizarre, however nonetheless comprehensible with a little bit of effort.
By the tenth century, comprehension collapsed. I attempted explaining electrical energy: “And þeos ‘e-lec-tri-ci-tas’—ic nat þis phrase! Þu sægst hit cymþ fram wæteres styrunge?”
The weirdest second got here after I went again to 12 months 1 AD, and the AI switched to Latin. Return much more and also you undergo proto-languages till there isn’t a written system to doc.
So I modified course.
The longer term is already right here
English is altering proper now, and we are able to see it—Gen Z texts in ways in which would baffle somebody from 1990. “Bussin,” “mid,” “slay,” and “rizz” will not be simply slang, they’re grammatical improvements spreading at web velocity.
Phonetic spelling is successful: “Nite” as an alternative of “night time,” “through” as an alternative of “by.” Why protect archaic spelling when digital communication rewards effectivity?
English spelling fossilized centuries in the past whereas pronunciation stored evolving, creating the nightmare orthography we now have now. Given sufficient time, that breaks.
So what occurs if we hold going ahead in time? Not 100 years—anybody can extrapolate slang and texting shortcuts. I wished to learn about 1,000 years from now, 3,000 years; even 15,000 years, maybe?
Into the unknown
Skipping forward felt much less constrained by proof and extra constrained by chance. What would English change into?
For the twenty fifth century, I merely requested Claude to think about, based mostly on the evolution of English, what it will be like within the 12 months 2400 and the upcoming eras.
The response got here again in what I would name “optimized English.”
“Ayo, timewalk! Yu askin bout langspeak of 2400s? Lemgo projek how Inglish mite shif,” Claude mentioned.
Phonetic spelling dominated. “Evening” turned “nit,” “although” turned “tho.” This follows precise traits.
Sorry, guys, as a overseas language speaker, that is what you get after centuries of perfecting the artwork of claiming “gonna” as an alternative of “going to,” “imma” as an alternative of “I’m going to,” and “you’re” as an alternative of “you might be.”
It additionally defined that English would undertake phrases from different languages (like Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, and Spanish) and that the web would lead society to compress the way in which we communicate—it known as it “digi-short.”
Srry, however we already do this, u know? Thx!
However the kicker was buried in there: “We psilink half our comspeak anyway through neuralnets, so vokal only for emosh-nuance and sosh-bond.”
Neural hyperlinks for communication. Spoken language is changing into ornamental. That is after I realized this wasn’t nearly spelling adjustments.
The thirtieth Century: When it will get bizarre
For the thirtieth century, I requested for meticulous linguistic evaluation. I discussed that in my time (2025), neural implants are simply beginning to be developed, with early failures.
The response described one thing alien.
English’s 40+ distinct sounds would collapse to simply 8—thank god! However tones would fill the hole—oh god!.
This appeared wild at first, however it’s not implausible. Many languages use tone to convey grammatical which means—Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Yoruba amongst them.
The strangest addition was evidentiality markers—grammatical indicators displaying how you recognize info:
◈ = sens-direct (I skilled)
⊙ = neur-download (I do know by way of neural-link)
∿ = deduk-log (I reasoned)
○ = ai-predik (AI calculated)
◐ = trans-oral (somebody instructed me)
And it is smart. If neural interfaces change into frequent, then distinguishing between organic reminiscence and downloaded info might change into grammatically essential.
Then the response addressed my remark about neural implants and defined that, by the 12 months 3000, talking could be ceremonial, used for magnificence, ritual, and emotional issues that neural comms can’t grasp.
The remainder of the data switch would occur by direct neural communication. Spoken language goes extinct by 3500. Not forbidden, simply out of date.
The fiftieth Century: Publish-Human Pronouns
By the 12 months 5000, I encountered one thing that fully challenged my Twenty first-century assumptions. The response defined that in that point, folks used a brand new pronoun system based mostly on the evolution of the human civilization:
um = bio-conscience (human, uplifted animals, bio-aliens)
si = digital-conscience (AI, uploads, silicon-based)
ka = collective-conscience (hive-minds, gestalts, planet-AIs)
da = hibrid-conscience (cyborgs, merged entities, transitionals)
na = non-conscience (objekts, extinct bio-forms, pre-Awakening AIs).
I pushed again—Why overcomplicate issues when the entire evolution was a giant lesson in oversimplification?
To me, the “historic” pronouns have been extra environment friendly. Particularly, the pronoun “it” remains to be completely legitimate and even sensible—something non-human defaults to a factor, whether or not it’s organic, digital, or one thing in between.
In my world, we kind entities by species. In theirs, identification is sorted by the character of consciousness itself. That collision of classes—factor vs. thoughts—was the primary second I noticed I used to be the alien on this dialog.
Translation: “In historic instances, utilizing ‘it’ meant you thought of one thing as an ‘inert class’ (na-class). BUT by as we speak’s commonplace, that’s scandalous!,” Claude replied.
“Calling a organic being or an AI entity ‘na-class’ is taken into account dehumanizing, and in most locations, it’s legally forbidden.”
This was a real conflict of values throughout time. The response defined that after the “Awakening” within the 12 months 3200, the excellence between organic and digital consciousness began to dissolve. Particular person and collective consciousness blurred. The phrase “human” went extinct by the 12 months 3800, changed by “konshos-spektrum” (consciousness-spectrum).
The linguistic shift mirrored a philosophical one. Should you consider consciousness is substrate-independent, your pronouns should acknowledge that.
I used to be being lectured throughout 3,000 years about utilizing outdated, offensive pronouns.
The one hundred and fiftieth Century: When Language Dies
Then I pushed to absolutely the restrict. I requested for the one hundred and fiftieth century—and thanked Claude for the great expertise, asking what it will say to these studying within the 12 months 2025.
The response opened with: “◬◬◬ ∴∵∴ ⧈⧈ ≋≋ ◬◬◬”
Symbols, not phrases. It continued:
By then, language is a very completely different factor. The AI defined that 8,000 years earlier than 12 months 15,000—round our 12 months 7000—language within the conventional sense went extinct. Particular person consciousness dissolved. Our bodies have been deserted. Communication turned direct, non-linear, simultaneous.
However regardless of the alienness, the message contained one thing recognizable. It acknowledged present anxieties and laid out a timeline.
“You are concerned about AI, local weather change, conflict, extinction—however in actuality, you overcome all issues,” the AI mentioned after going by 13 layers of archaeological translations.
So, ultimately, language would possibly disappear, however no matter comes after nonetheless cares sufficient to ship a message backward by time and tell us it’ll all be OK. That may be essentially the most human factor conceivable—or the final hint of humanity in one thing that is advanced past it.
The entire dialog is out there right here. Copy the immediate, get inventive, and luxuriate in taking part in round.
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