>In the very long term (hundreds of years) it seems like it will really be optimal to have a single shared language for people of Earth to communicate with each

>In the very long term (hundreds of years) it seems like it will really be optimal to have a single shared language for people of Earth to communicate with each other easily and effectively. I disagree. I'd argue that a monolingual species is harmful for the same reason monocultures are harmful in general. Language diversity facilitates cultural diversity. It's a "memetic speed bump" that enables the isolation needed for cultural divergence. On a hundred-year timescale, I'd much rather see hundreds of new, diverse cultures bloom than some sort of bland Facebook-y monoculture where everyone is communicating with everyone else all the time. I'm hoping in the very long run, space travel will help facilitate cultural diversity. E.g. Mars is ~10 light-minutes away, meaning Earth/Mars phone calls aren't really feasible. But until then, we should preserve the cultural diversity we have, and fight homogenization.