I Made an AI Communicate Each Century of English—It Ended With a Message From the 12 months 15,000 – Decrypt

When you’ve ever tried studying Chaucer within the authentic Center English, then you recognize the sensation. The phrases look nearly 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 fully. Language, as everyone knows, evolves. Simply ask the Gen Z crowd.

Whereas English misplaced most of its grammatical circumstances, it nonetheless regularizes (or continues 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 may communicate in any century’s fashion, utilizing period-appropriate vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. And the outcomes received 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 received attention-grabbing.

I defined trendy AI to this medieval persona, and it responded: “By Goddes bones! Machines which 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 once 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 any 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 pace.

Phonetic spelling is profitable: “Nite” as a substitute of “evening,” “through” as a substitute of “via.” Why protect archaic spelling when digital communication rewards effectivity?

English spelling fossilized centuries in the past whereas pronunciation saved evolving, creating the nightmare orthography we have now now. Given sufficient time, that breaks.

So what occurs if we preserve going ahead in time? Not 100 years—anybody can extrapolate slang and texting shortcuts. I needed 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 risk. What would English change into?

For the twenty fifth century, I merely requested Claude to think about, primarily based on the evolution of English, what it could 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. “Night time” 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 a substitute of “going to,” “imma” as a substitute of “I’m going to,” and “you’re” as a substitute of “you’re.”

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 best way we communicate—it known as it “digi-short.”

Srry, however we already try 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 turning into ornamental. That is once I realized this wasn’t nearly spelling modifications.

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, but it surely’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 data:

• ◈ = sens-direct (I skilled)
• ⊙ = neur-download (I do know through neural-link)
• ∿ = deduk-log (I reasoned)
• ○ = ai-predik (AI calculated)
• ◐ = trans-oral (somebody informed me)

And it is sensible. If neural interfaces change into widespread, then distinguishing between organic reminiscence and downloaded data may change into grammatically needed.

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 not grasp.

The remainder of the knowledge switch would occur via direct neural communication. Spoken language goes extinct by 3500. Not forbidden, simply out of date.

The fiftieth Century: Submit-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, individuals used a brand new pronoun system primarily based 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 had been extra environment friendly. Particularly, the pronoun “it” continues 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 type entities by species. In theirs, id is sorted by the character of consciousness itself. That collision of classes—factor vs. thoughts—was the primary second I spotted I used to be the alien on this dialog.

Translation: “In historic occasions, utilizing ‘it’ meant you thought of one thing as an ‘inert class’ (na-class). BUT by at present’s customary, 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. When 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 a hundred and fiftieth Century: When Language Dies

Then I pushed to absolutely the restrict. I requested for the a hundred and fiftieth century—and thanked Claude for the fantastic expertise, asking what it could 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 had 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, battle, extinction—however in actuality, you overcome all issues,” the AI mentioned after going via 13 layers of archaeological translations.

So, in the long run, language may disappear, however no matter comes after nonetheless cares sufficient to ship a message backward via time and tell us it’ll all be OK. That is likely to be essentially the most human factor possible—or the final hint of humanity in one thing that is developed past it.

The entire dialog is on the market right here. Copy the immediate, get artistic, and luxuriate in taking part in round.