The One Trillion Principle

How many ancestors do we have?  One day I started to count.
I was not prepared for the answer or its implications.

We each have 2 parents, mine: Aegidius and Maria,
My 4 grandparents, Johanna Quirina, Petrus Gerardus, Petrus Jacobus, and Petronilla,
8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, 32, 64, 128, 256,
512 great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents,
1,024     2,048     4,092     8,184     16,368      

Fifteen generations ago 32,736 great, great..... grandparents.   
Counting back, every generation twice as many ancestors as the generation of descendants.

Given 25 years per generation, 40 generations occur in 1000 years.
We each have one trillion ancestors in the last 1000 years,
and double that every 25 years more.  Millions and billions, trillions...

Suddenly I realized, we have more ancestors than there are stars in the heavens,
more than the number of humans in all of time.  How could this be?  Think about it.
We all have and we all share the same ancestors!  Duplications fill everyone's ancestry tree.

Go back far enough, and everyone with descendants is, in all probably, your ancestor, and everyone's.

We are ALL one family. 

As an anthropologist, I am truly saddened listening to news of wars, strife, conquest, starving children, etc., while knowing how related we all are.  I hope this mathematical perspective will influence our conceptions of our relations to others everywhere, irrespective of belief systems, unique traditions, freckles, hair color, place of birth, etc.  Please pass on this principle to promote peace and tolerance.  Thank you.

Return to Anthropology Pages

 

Ancestors

Generations
Time/Year
2 1 1975
4 2 1950
8 3 1925
16 4 1900
32 5 1875
64 6 1850
128 7 1825
256 8 1800
512 9 1775
1,024 10 1750
2,048 11 1725
4,096 12 1700
8,192 13 1675
16,384 14 1650
32,768 15 1625
65,536 16 1600
131,072 17 1575
262,144 18 1550
524,288 19 1525
1,048,576 20 1500
2,097,152 21 1475
4,194,304 22 1450
8,388,608 23 1425
16,777,216 24 1400
33,554,432 25 1375
67,108,864 26 1350
134,217,728 27 1325
268,435,456 28 1300
536,870,912 29 1275
1,073,741,824 30 1250
2,147,483,648 31 1225
4,294,967,296 32 1200
8,589,934,592 33 1175
17,179,869,184 34 1150
34,359,738,368 35 1125
68,719,476,736 36 1100
137,438,953,472 37 1075
274,877,906,944 38 1050
549,755,813,888 39 1025
1,099,511,627,776 40 1000

Download ancestors_calc.xls

Further Reading

We Are Family Aug. 7, 2013. USC Dornsife’s Peter Ralph has reconstructed European ancestry, using DNA to demonstrate just how closely everyone on Earth is related to everyone else.

"... everybody who was alive in Europe a thousand years ago and who had children, is an ancestor of everyone alive today who has some European ancestry."


Your comments, etc. will be appreciated. Contact.
©2006 by James Q. Jacobs. All rights reserved.

Welcome to jqjacobs.net
 
ArchaeoBlog
Southwest
Mound Builders
Andes
Archaeology
Rock Art
Mesoamerica
Astronomy
Anthropology
Writing
Art
Web Design