[Dean's World] Dean: Genetics and Mathematics Question

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Posted by Dean:
Genetics and Mathematics Question
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1154421629.shtml


   Here's something I am fond of pointing out to people--of any
   background--about genetics. And it's simple math: we are all related
   to each other. This is an inescabable reality. Like, no matter how
   Jewish you are, you've got some goyim in your background. If you're
   black, you've got some crackers in your background. If you're
   lilly-white, there are some darkies in your mix somewhere. Even if
   you're as Asian as Asian gets, with pure yellow skin and almond-shaped
   black eyes, there are some pasty-white blue eyes somewhere in your
   background. If you've got both skin and eyes the color of mahogony and
   straight black hair, you've got some curly-haired redheads in your
   background somewhere. You probably just don't know about it.

   On a very simplistic level, it's just all about math. And it looks
   like this:

   We all have two parents--a mom and a dad. Just biologically speaking.

   Okay, now just taking the most simplistic math about it, we all have
   two parents, four grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and so on. So if
   you just go by that, and pass out 33 generations, it looks like this:

   2
   4
   8
   16
   32
   64
   128
   256
   512
   1,024
   2,048
   4,096
   8,192
   16,384
   32,768
   65,536
   131,072
   262,144
   524,288
   1,048,576
   2,097,152
   4,194,304
   8,388,608
   16,777,216
   33,554,432
   67,108,864
   134,217,728
   268,435,456
   536,870,912
   1,073,741,824
   2,147,483,648
   4,294,967,296
   8,589,934,592

   The current world population is around 6,000,000,000. In other words,
   if you just go back 33 generations you've got more ancestors than
   there are people alive on Planet Earth right now.

   Now the truth is, this is oversimplified math. Although it ought to
   tell you how stupid it is to claim that anybody is "racially pure" in
   any sense. It's ridiculous. Go back 64 or 128 generations, and the
   whole idea of "racial purity" is a joke. As well it should be.

   I am just curious though--genuinely curious, this is not a leading
   question--has anyone studied the mathematical question of what
   intermarriage of ancestores looks like, and come up with an equation
   to describe it? This is a question I have of simple mathematical
   values. Yes of course we all have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8
   great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, and so on. Has anyone
   ever tried to determine what the average coefficient of intermarriage
   is within that subset?

   This is not a "leading question." I'm just honestly curious, has
   anyone ever tried to calculate that? Because I'd bet it's a fairly
   simple number. Although I'd bet it would be somebody's PhD thesis. I'm
   just curious to know if anybody's done it.