• BleatingZombie@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      44
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        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.

          • nul@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            12
            ·
            edit-2
            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.

              • DasAlbatross@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

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

    • GojuRyu@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      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.