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[-] BleatingZombie@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

This might be a really dumb question, but is it possible that any two human beings don't share a common ancestor? Like, do we all link back to a single bacteria or were there multiple "made" at once?

[-] ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago

There is a genetic Adam and Eve. However, I don't think they existed at the same time. These were humans, not just apes/mammals/animals/bacteria. We are all distantly related.

We are also more related to mushrooms than trees are to mushrooms.

[-] nul@programming.dev 21 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it's hard to pin down when these common ancestors lived precisely, especially given that as portions of our genome go extinct, the common ancestor will change.

But Y-chromosomal Adam is estimated to have lived around 200,000 years ago, while estimates for when Mitochondrial Eve lived are a bit more recent, around 150,000 years ago.

[-] affiliate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

how far back is that in terms of great grandpas and great grandmas?

[-] nul@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

According to an unverified internet search, the average age of childbirth for women throughout history is 23.2 years, and for men it is 30.7.

So, statistically, your great^6463 grandmother is the same as mine. Same goes for our great^6512 grandfather.

[-] affiliate@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

wow! that’s quite a few. i wonder what our great^6512^ grandparents were like

[-] DasAlbatross@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

They were freaks. They didn't have as many generations of separation so they were definitely fucking their cousin at best.

[-] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

A quarter of us trace back to one mongol, fairly certain there’s going to be a point we all tie together to the same ape eating magic mushrooms in what would become Africa. Long ass time ago though

[-] Communist@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

No, all humans share a common ancestor, as does all multicellular life. Google clades for more info.

[-] GojuRyu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

With how funky micro organisms are with sharing DNA I'm not sure it matters. I've heard it likened to the genetic tree turning into a bush instead whare it's a big mes of sharing of DNA across species.

this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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