Evolution and Immigration Denial

Jonatan Pallesen writes:

Many people deny that mass immigration over time will fundamentally change countries.

This is a similar kind of mistake as evolution denial.

One is abowritesut e: volution at the level of a species and one is about evolution at the level of a country.

• Evolution deniers

Evolution deniers accept that "microevolution" happens. They also agree that different species exist. They just don't think that a large number of small mutations over time can lead to a new species.

• Mass immigration impact deniers:

Similarly, mass immigration impact deniers accept that micro changes happen. They acknowledge that individual immigrants can have different cultures and views than the host population on average. They also agree that countries with large differences between them exist. They just don't believe that a large number of immigrants over time can lead to a fundamentally changed country.

Both groups of deniers often demand to be shown direct evidence of transformation in progress. For example, "Show me the monkey turning into a human" or "Show me that California has turned into Mexico." A snapshot may not clearly reveal an ongoing process, but that doesn't mean the process isn't taking place.

In both cases, the evolution has taken place in the past. For example, with the Yamnaya expansion, countries evolved into different societies and cultures. However, since this happened long ago, there is limited evidence illustrating these changes. Similarly, our shared ancestor with chimpanzees evolved into different species, including humans. But since this also occurred long ago, the evidence is limited, allowing evolution deniers to raise questions.

In general, people find it difficult to intuitively understand the impact of many small changes over time. This difficulty, combined with ideological beliefs that lead them to want to deny it, is why many otherwise sensible people deny that evolution takes place.

He has a good point. People can see the small changes, and have trouble seeing the big changes.

A long time ago, people did not care about invasive species, because the immediate effect was small. Or people did not understand the different ecology of different species.

California, Canada, London, Paris, etc. have been transformed into something different. It should be plain for anyone to see.