What happens if your parents are first cousins? You don’t have as many ancestors as the article assumes. And it’s only now that people are so connected that such a situation can arise, but earlier people used to marry mostly within their local communities, so each spouse would share many of the same ancestors as the other.
Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
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Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#22What happens if your parents are first cousins? You don’t have as many ancestors as the article assumes. And it’s only now that people are so connected that such a situation can arise, but earlier people used to marry mostly within their local communities, so each spouse would share many of the same ancestors as the other.
This is described in the article, see “pedigree collapse” therein.
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#23What happens if your parents are first cousins? You don’t have as many ancestors as the article assumes. And it’s only now that people are so connected that such a situation can arise, but earlier people used to marry mostly within their local communities, so each spouse would share many of the same ancestors as the other.
This is described in the article, see “pedigree collapse” therein.
Oh thanks
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#24My wife and I found out we are 10th cousins. She is not amused when it is sexy time and I call her cousin. LOL
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#25There are a few particularly interesting points when you go back up your ancestor tree. First, there is a point where some ancestor of yours is an ancestor of everyone else currently living (and so will also be an ancestor of everyone else to come). This is the "most recent common ancestor" point. Go farther back and you reach the "identical ancestors point" (also known as the "all common ancestors point" or the "gen…
Another thing I find interesting is that your family right now are the most closest humans related to you. When you go back in time or forward in time, the relatedness dilutes.
Even then, you and your sibling could, statistically, share zero genes (you each get 50% from each parent and it is possible you each got a different 50%). Your own parents and children are the closest relatives you have since you are guaranteed to have 50% of your parent’s genes and same with your children.
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#26There are a few particularly interesting points when you go back up your ancestor tree. First, there is a point where some ancestor of yours is an ancestor of everyone else currently living (and so will also be an ancestor of everyone else to come). This is the "most recent common ancestor" point. Go farther back and you reach the "identical ancestors point" (also known as the "all common ancestors point" or the "gen…
I’ve read various studies that believe that our most recent common ancestor lives 2000-4000 years ago.
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#27There are a few particularly interesting points when you go back up your ancestor tree. First, there is a point where some ancestor of yours is an ancestor of everyone else currently living (and so will also be an ancestor of everyone else to come). This is the "most recent common ancestor" point. Go farther back and you reach the "identical ancestors point" (also known as the "all common ancestors point" or the "gen…
I’ve read various studies that believe that our most recent common ancestor lives 2000-4000 years ago.
That seems a much shorter span of time for civilizations to spring up. Egypt, Iraq, India and Europe has history which was already divergent at that point of time.
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#28There are a few particularly interesting points when you go back up your ancestor tree. First, there is a point where some ancestor of yours is an ancestor of everyone else currently living (and so will also be an ancestor of everyone else to come). This is the "most recent common ancestor" point. Go farther back and you reach the "identical ancestors point" (also known as the "all common ancestors point" or the "gen…
Maybe I'm stupid but I'm not sure I understand the difference between most recent common ancestor and the identical ancestors point. Can someone explain differently?
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#29Almost every country was very homogeneous just 50 years ago, so your family tree wont branch out like that normally. USA is a bit different since it is a nation of immigrants, but mostly people barely even left their villages historically.
Also, if you go back a few hundred years there were relatively so few people on the Earth. I bought First Wife a posey ring from 1600s England. I was interested to know just how many people were around then. It was about 5% of the current population. The world was empty.
Re: Everyone on Earth is your cousin (2015)
#30"sweet home alabama..."