Human populations are tightly interwoven

Nature ^ | September 29, 2004 | Michael Hopkin

[Keith Pickering]

it's easy to believe that from say, 1500BC to 500BC that at least one guy visited the Americas from Asia, and shared genes. We don't have photos but it's simply not reasonable to say it didn't happen.

Since then, 2,500 / 20 = 125 generations have passed. Remember that this is 125 doublings -- a factor of some 40 digit number. This would spread the guy's genes to every single human in the Americas.

Not at all necesarily true. Among my family, in my generation, two out of three siblings have no children. In my parent's generation, (father's side) one out of two have no children; mother's side, also one out of two have no children. So right now, my four grandparents have a combined total of ONE great-grandchild between them (and probably won't have any more, either.) That's three generations removed. If that kid becomes a priest, or dies young, all four grandparents will be out of the descendents game entirely.

This kind of thing happens a lot, especially in societies with high infant mortality. Which means most of the human race throughout most of its history.

[Keith Pickering]

Another way to think about this is that for all species -- including humans -- their ecological niche has what economists call a "carrying capacity", i.e., the highest population that the food supply will support. When a population reaches its carrying capacity, it will stabilize at or just below it, with only minor fluctuations.

Living in an age of population explosion, it's hard to recall that for most of human history, the population was fairly stable. This means that populations were not doubling every generation, they were about the same every generation. In other words the average couple produced and average of two descendants. For every couple that produced four (and this was a sizable fraction of the population) there was another couple that produced none (also a sizable fraction of the population).

Unless a newcoming interloper's genes are better fit (in Darwinian terms) than those of the native population, there is simply no way to be sure that his descendents (if any) will not die out in a few generations or less.

[Keith Pickering]

Another way to think about this is that for all species -- including humans -- their ecological niche has what economists call a "carrying capacity", i.e., the highest population that the food supply will support. When a population reaches its carrying capacity, it will stabilize at or just below it, with only minor fluctuations.

Living in an age of population explosion, it's hard to recall that for most of human history, the population was fairly stable. This means that populations were not doubling every generation, they were about the same every generation. In other words the average couple produced and average of two descendants. For every couple that produced four (and this was a sizable fraction of the population) there was another couple that produced none (also a sizable fraction of the population).

Unless a newcoming interloper's genes are better fit (in Darwinian terms) than those of the native population, there is simply no way to be sure that his descendents (if any) will not die out in a few generations or less.

[expat_panama]

when they shake hands with a Jew ....it could be their cousin!

You've nailed it.  All over the world people have this congenital believe about 'blood and soil'-- that 'this land is for our people and not for inferior people'.  They'll say that anyone who suggest that our ancestry does not extend back to the Beginning is not normal.

They're right-- I used the word "congenital" because I think these beliefs are actually hard wired into us at birth.  Overcoming these prejudices may be a big step toward reality, but it's just not normal.  The irony is the very fact that this common belief is so universal is even more proof of recent ancestry.

[Cronos]

well, most of us ARE cousins to everyone else -- the degree of relationship will vary (100th cousin anyone!?)

[Cronos]

WEll, that is an extreme example -- however, most of the peoples populating the Eurasian continent and Africa north of the Sahara have had regular contacts for millenia. The more apparent are the Caucasians -- you can most definitely say that if you have any amount of Caucasian blood, you are related to those who faced CAesar's troops in 54 B.C. and those who created the VEdas in the second millenia and those who built the pyramids and those who trudged with Moses.

[Cronos]

There are extremes such as the MElanesian tribes in Papua New Guinea (Australoids I think and related to the Australian Aborigines) or a remote South American tribe or the Bushmen. Most other groups are not that isolated

[Cronos]

Uh oh....don't let the Arabs know when they shake hands with a Jew ....it could be their cousin! :o

They already know they are cousins -- they are both of the SEmitic race (as opposed to Europeans, Iranis, Indians who are Aryans) and, biblically, both are descended from Abraham so are cousins....

[SunkenCiv]

#21, #22, well put (again).

[SunkenCiv]

bttt, and a related topic:

Maori Men And Women From Different Homelands
ABC Science News ^ | 3-27-2003 | Adele Whyte
Posted on 09/06/2004 5:15:41 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1208808/posts

[SunkenCiv]

February 2005 bump

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

It's "probably" true.

If you ignore the evidence, and follow your imagination, anything is possible.

Aborigines in Australia, Pigmies deep in the jungles of Africa, Indians in the Americas, Blonds in Europe, and black haired Asians of which all have traits peculiar to their ethnicity and uncommon to all need a vast amount of time to acquire these isolated differences. It did not happen a few thousand years ago.

[SunkenCiv]