A common method of making a theory more understandable, is by comparing it to
another theory which has been better developed. Radical interpretation is a
theory which attempts to explain how communication has meaning. Radical
interpretation is treated as another time-dependent theory and compared to the
time dependent theory of biological evolution. The main reason for doing this
is to find the nature of the time dependence; producing analogs between the two
theories is a necessary prerequisite to this and brings up many problems. Once
the nature of the time dependence is better known it might allow the underlying
mechanism to be uncovered. Several similarities and differences are uncovered,
there appear to be more differences than similarities.Comment: title changed, completely rewritten, new version 37 pages previous
version 28 pages, to appear in Behaviour and Philosoph
