生物：基因層次的改變
核心畫面最具體的一種：一直複製、每次差一點，而差的地方藏在基因裡，看不見。
verb · B2
When a living thing such as a virus, a plant or an animal mutates, part of the genetic information inside it changes, so the new one is not quite the same as the ones it came from.
突變
核心畫面
Picture a thing that keeps going, keeps copying itself, and quietly comes out a little different each time. Nobody decided on the change and nobody was watching for it. The new version is still clearly related to the old one — you can trace the line back — but it is not the same thing any more, and after enough small changes the old way of dealing with it stops working.
可以想成一樣東西一直在運作、一直在複製自己，而每複製一次就悄悄變得有一點不一樣。沒有人決定要它變，也沒有人盯著看。新…更多收起
可以想成一樣東西一直在運作、一直在複製自己，而每複製一次就悄悄變得有一點不一樣。沒有人決定要它變，也沒有人盯著看。新的那個跟舊的還連得上，你追得回去。可是它已經不是同一個東西了。變得夠多之後，原本對付它的那套方法就失效了。mutate 兩種用法，說的都是這個「自己悄悄變、變到對不上」的過程。From the word’s history
Wiktionary records mutate as first attested in 1796, a back-formation from mutation, ultimately from Latin mūtō 'to exchange, to change', and a doublet of moult. The plain 'change' meaning is the older one; biology later narrowed it to genetic change.
Wiktionary 記載 mutate 最早出現於 1796 年，是從 mutation 反推出來的動詞，源頭為拉丁文 mūtō（交換、改變），並與 moult（換毛）同源。值得注意的是「改變」才是比較老的意思，基因的用法是生物學後來把它收窄的結果。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:769511347:10941)
Two branches
廣義：事物慢慢變成另一個樣子
把同一個畫面放到沒有生命的東西上。連「沒人計畫」和「還看得出從哪來」這兩個特徵也一起搬過去了。
verb · C1
To change into a different form. The thing carries on existing, but it turns into something new, usually step by step and usually without anyone deciding that it should.
演變；變成另一個樣子