Are We All Related

[I like it]

Because every single human came from parents.So the first two humans two have kids,had kids then it keeps going and going and going up too now so did we all come from the same Greatx45678 grandma and grandpa?
What do you think of this?

[customstuff]

Re: Are We All Related

Technically we are, but they only count up to 4ths I think.

[devonin]

Re: Are We All Related

One assumes that the "first two humans" idea only really works if you believe in biblical accounts, and even those don't imply that "Adam and Eve" were the -ONLY- original humans, just the very first ones. With Cain and Abel, when Cain is cast out, he goes and lives among other people who already existed.

I'd think it most logical that a number of beings all became the species we identify as being humans together at around the same time, and everyone could be descended from them, but I don't believe one single pair exists far enough back from which came all of humanity.

[solopro]

Re: Are We All Related

That would be creepy, but a nice theory.

[Relambrien]

Re: Are We All Related

In my science class, I learned that all living things are related in some way. The only explanation the teacher gave had something to do with DNA and how everything developed from common ancestors and such.

Biology is definitely not my forte.

[Doug31]

Re: Are We All Related

With how many generations we've gone through, I'd think people would start making pretty large groups of who were related, even if these groups are invisible to us. They would keep getting bigger and combining until they were all one. Even if we started with 100 people, I'd think they'd almost be guaranteed to have all been mixed together somewhere along the road by now, so I think we're all related.

[devonin]

Re: Are We All Related

related != interrelated

[Kilroy_x]

Re: Are We All Related

The only explanation the teacher gave had something to do with DNA and how everything developed from common ancestors and such.

There are biological markers which enable us to determine when certain taxonomic branchings occurred. There aren't direct relationships between, say, amphibians and mammals, but both can be traced back to a previous variety of creature, in this case I believe marine creatures. At any rate, such backwards tracing is done until we get to very primitive creatures, at which point we would supposedly find a common ancestor, most probably a single-celled organism which didn't even have the complexities of cellular respiration and mitochondria and so had to rely on very primitive methods of getting energy, perhaps fermentation.

[lord_carbo]

Re: Are We All Related

Everybody in this thread shut up and go read The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins if you haven't already.

[plasmix]

Re: Are We All Related

Sure, we are all carbon-based.

Actually the real point of this post is, Carbo go listen to some good Squarepusher.

[lord_carbo]

Re: Are We All Related

"Good" Squarepusher? I assume my last.fm feed was chock-full of Squarepusher at the time you read my post. Are you implying that Hello Everything is not a good album? Surely while not his best, it's still great.

[jewpinthethird]

Re: Are We All Related

There are biological markers which enable us to determine when certain taxonomic branchings occurred. There aren't direct relationships between, say, amphibians and mammals, but both can be traced back to a previous variety of creature, in this case I believe marine creatures. At any rate, such backwards tracing is done until we get to very primitive creatures, at which point we would supposedly find a common ancestor, most probably a single-celled organism which didn't even have the complexities of cellular respiration and mitochondria and so had to rely on very primitive methods of getting energy, perhaps fermentation.

Abiogenesis.

F*ck your God. Gaia hypothesis ftw.

[masterhickle]

Re: Are We All Related

My logic may be flawed on this topic, but here's my point of view.

From the Bible standpoint, we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, so we all must be related in some way.

From the Evolutionist standpoint, one single cell started all the life on earth by first multiplying itself, so we must be related in some way.

Though, as someone else said, the relationships are too distant to even be considered.

[Salvaged_C4]

Re: Are We All Related

I heard a rumor that if people with too similiar DNA were to reproduce, the offspring would be incomplete/retarded. If thats the Case after Adam and Eve's generation wouldve been the only one legit. Religious theory isnt too logical...

[devonin]

Re: Are We All Related

Don't confuse the idea that Adam and Eve were the -first- humans with the idea that all humans necessarily descended from Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. When Cain was cast out, the implication is quite strong that there were plenty of other humans already alive out in the world that weren't direct descendants of Adam and Eve:

God curses Cain to wander the earth. Cain is overwhelmed by this and appeals in fear of being killed by other men, and so God places a mark on Cain so that he would not be killed, stating that "whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be upon him sevenfold". Cain then departs, "to the land wandering". Early translations instead stated that he departed "to the Land of Nod", which is generally considered a mistranslation of the Hebrew word Nod, meaning wandering. Despite being cursed to wander, Cain is later mentioned as fathering a lineage of children, and founding a city, which he named Enoch after the name of his son.

If he was worried about other men killing him, and found a wife to father children with, clearly humans existed outside the Garden.