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Re: I need help with a paradox. not a trick question, i do not know the answer

i think there's a few problems with the way the
question was predicated.  first, 30 generations taking
you back only to the 12th century i would have to
question.  i am second-gen german paternally, and my
great-grandparents almost absolutely were born between
1840 and 1860.  at that RATE, my lineage of thirty
gens could have started as early as the late 4th
century.  even if this is not true, people died
younger and more frequently centuries ago than they do
now, so that while there were not a billion people
living, there were BILLIONS of operating "gene pools."
 third, assuming a very clean, symetrical,
mathematical nexus for ancestry tends to cancel out
the idea that geneology is much more of a hermetic,
cryptic "science."  the numbers don't add up because
people live and die, the world is constantly being
acted upon and replaced by other people, transformed.

finally (this is true for we "krauts"), there
supposedly is a "bank" of german surnames that, if you
trace yourself into it, you can rest assured that you
are a descendant of charlemagne.  while my paternal
grandfather was one of 23 children, charlemagne's
"record" (what did he sire - 300-some odd) apparently
has led to idealistic germans hoping to trace
themselves to kepler or someone, getting really bummed
out once they reach "the list."

which is why i try to stick to my irish side ;)

peace all,

E
--- nrg_ boy <nrg_boy2001 at hotmail_com> wrote:
> How about this?
> 
> If you go back a certain number of generations, you
> will start to intersect 
> with certain people.  We're all related, if you go
> back far enough right?  
> So, creepy as it is by today's standards, you're
> going to find that maybe a 
> set of parents were related closely, hence having
> only one set of parents, 
> or one set of grandparents...It takes some twisted
> thinking, but it can be 
> rationalized...
> 
> That was my twist on it...anyone else?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >From: CheetahJN at aol_com
> >Reply-To: CheetahJN at aol_com
> >To: Over-the-Rhine at actwin_com
> >Subject: I need help with a paradox. not a trick
> question, i do not know 
> >the answer
> >Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 18:28:58 EDT
> >
> >I'm plotting my family tree. I have two parents. I
> record the names of all
> >four grandparents and all 8 great grandparents. I
> need to do some research 
> >on
> >the great great grandparents but I allocate space
> for all 16 of them on my
> >chart. I go on to the next generation - 32 spots,
> next one 64, the next one
> >128 etc. By the time I get to the tenth generation
> I have to acount for 
> >1,024
> >individuals. Ten generations previous and I need
> one million people. Go 
> >back
> >10 more generations and I need about 1 billion
> people to account for my
> >existence. This is a total of thirty generations
> ago and that takes me back
> >to aproximatelly the 12th century. I don't think
> there was a billion people
> >on the planet then.
> >Then, just go back another 4 generations or so and
> I would need some 16
> >billion direct ancestors to account for me.
> >Something is not adding up, but I do not know
> what's missing. Remember; no
> >one comes into being without two parents, so it
> seems that you always need
> >two additional people to create  each ancestor.
> I've posed this question to
> >quite a few people, no one has come up with
> anything. I figured I'd try 
> >this
> >crowd and see what y'all can do.
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> 
> 
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