Re: So we're all related!

Vernon,

This research does not conclude that only a small number of humans were
alive in 1415 B.C.

It is based on the fact that everyone has a huge number of great great
great great ...(etc.)... grandparents, and most people of ancient times
who have descendants living today have a huge number of them. As you go
back in time the number of people with whom you share an ancestor
increases rapidly. You play with these numbers and a few other
assumptions, and you make some conclusion about how far back you need to
go to find a common ancestor for everyone. You don't have to go back to a
time when the world's human population was small.

Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395

On Sat, 2 Oct 2004, Vernon Jenkins wrote:

> To the Forum
>
> An interesting article appeared in last Thursday's Daily Telegraph which may be found at
> http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/30/wdesc30.xml
>
> It briefly describes the outcome of a programme of research carried out at MIT by a team led by Dr Steve Olson - this suggesting that all people alive today share a single common ancestor who lived in Asia in 1,415 BC. [Dr Olson was keen to stress however that this date was an estimate.]
>
> If indeed true, then this finding suggests that - apart from a handful of fortunate individuals - mankind was completely snuffed out not that long ago. Had Dr Olson's estimate been 880 or so years earlier then, clearly, the Genesis Flood - provided it were accepted as a _global_ cataclysm - would have provided the necessary mechanism for such mass extinction. But if not a universal flood, then what? Perhaps the estimate is wrong; perhaps the procedure which has led Dr Olson to conclude that all - since 1,415 BC - are descended from a single ancestor, is wrong. It is all highly intriguing. I invite informed comment from the list.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Vernon
>
> www.otherbiblecode.com
>
>
Received on Sat Oct 2 19:08:04 2004