We are living in extraordinary times. In some respects, COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change in a world already overwhelmed with it. 

Many have wondered, “when do we get back to normal?” Many are beginning to wonder, “Will we ever get back to normal?”

There is some comfort in the idea that this pace of change could be temporary. Indeed, there have been times in the past where the pace of change has increased dramatically for just a moment in time, tempered by longer time periods of relative stability.

Paleontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge even created a theory to describe this evolutionary cadence of change, called “Punctuated Equilibrium.”

Gould and Eldredge’s “Punctuated Equilibrium” theory states that each catastrophe is followed by an explosion in the number of new species, at “a rate faster than can be accounted for by Darwinian mechanisms.” 

Evolution has not been gradual

In other words, evolution is not gradual, as the Darwinian perspective promotes. These scientists suggest that evolution actually results from a much longer period of relative stability that is periodically interrupted by catastrophic events—not unlike COVID-19.

Do you feel like we’re in a catastrophic event? Or is this just a miniscule blip on the radar judging by evolutionary standards of time? Comment below and let us know what you think.