HUMAN MIGRATION TRACKED IN STANFORD COMPUTER SIMULATION

Stanford University Medical Center ^ | 21 January 2004 | Amy Adams

[imintrouble]

I feel rude even asking this question, but when I read the initial theorem that all humans have evolved from that life form which existed in Africa, I had no problem with the idea posited, but, I wanted to ask further:

Was the continent of Africa as it is now too? Haven't the land masses shaped and reshaped, and shrunk and enlarged to some extent? Perhaps what we now consider Africa was not at its current location in relation to other bodies of land, and perhaps it had an entirely different weather system.

Perhaps all the great land masses were at one time joined and the oceans were smaller then, as I understand it they are currently growing larger, taking land shelf areas and islands under water.

If mankind has evolved greatly, would it not be fair to think that the earth's land masses have also evolved both in size, shape, ecological factors and location geographically?

The only land mass I ever hear discussed is the Alaskan/Russian bridge over which the original Mongolian tribes travelled to become the ancestral race of the indigenous North and South American peoples.

What about all the other continental regions?

I know curiosity killed the cat.

[texasbluebell]

This might be of interest to you re: the continents.

link

"According to the continental drift theory, the supercontinent Pangaea began to break up about 225-200 million years ago, eventually fragmenting into the continents as we know them today."

The link shows various diagrams of the continents splitting off.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

I thought this was going to be another thread about amnesty.

I was thinking more along the lines of the government tracking people via top secret transponders in cell phones. /tinfoil hat

[PatrickHenry]

Continental Drift: An Introductory Guide.
Continental Drift.
theory of continental drift.

[I got the rope]

My own DNA will tell me whether it's true that my great-great-grandmother was half Native American

LOL. It's always amazing to me when I here white folks talk about their Cherokee ancestors. It's a riot. So many people at my work claim they have Native blood that you'd think we have Ghost Dance or something. LMAO!

[PatrickHenry]

I unknowingly posted the link you gave among the three that I provided. I guess that means it's a good one.

[CobaltBlue]

Well, my great-grandmother was a student at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA. I obtained her student record from the National Archives, and she is listed as half Chippewa. So I don't think there is any question that she was part Chippewa. What I specifically want to know is whether the Chippewa was on the maternal side or the paternal.

I think probably maternal, that's the family oral history, but I am having trouble tracing her side of the family any further back than 1880.

[livius]

It would be fun to do a similar model with linguistic chances

Yes! Let me know if you ever do one.

[Mr. K]

I can program a computer to give you any result you want... what's the big deal?

[PatrickHenry]

It would be fun to do a similar model with linguistic chances ...

And cultural changes too. I'm specifically thinking of the American Revolution, which certainly could be regarded as on the "migratory wave front" of European civilization. My guess would be that in any culture's "heartland," the tendency would be toward stasis. There are probably examples going both ways.

[PatrickHenry]

I can program a computer to give you any result you want... what's the big deal?

The big deal is that this article discusses a computer model which gives a result consistent with observed reality. Thus, perhaps the model has something worthwhile to tell us.

[mpreston]

With the possibility that your both right...

[Mr. K]

You missed my point- I can program it to give a desired result especially if I have a known result.

Trust me on this- no computer program is anything more than what the programmers put into it.

[RightWhale]

Probably next they'll want to use real data and pop on over to the Global Climate Lab to use their earth model.

[PatrickHenry]

I can program it to give a desired result especially if I have a known result.

Maybe, if you fudged the starting point, or the rate of mutation, or the rate of migration. But to make a model consistent with all known factors, and end up with something consistent with the diversity we now see, tells us that you can get from there to here in a manner that makes biological sense. That's not just a worthless model.

[Mr. K]

are you a programmer?

[FITZ]

It's always amazing to me when I here white folks talk about their Cherokee ancestors.

So do black folks --- only I believe they most likely do. The Indians went somewhere --- and there aren't many pure Indians tribes left --- they went into the other populations here. One Indian ancestor 6 generations back could have hundreds of thousands of white and black and indian descendents.

[imintrouble]

Thanks to both of you. I could only recall the word "plate" and from the little I knew of the subject, I hesitatated for a while to even ask my question.

I appreciate nobody threw creme pies at me!!!

Now for some reading!

[PatrickHenry]

No, I'm not a programmer. As you appear to be, then let me know if you can program a model giving the same result as the one in the article, with the same mutation and migration rates, but with a starting point of only 6,000 years in the past.

[PatrickHenry]

I appreciate nobody threw creme pies at me!!!

We only throw pies when someone seems to reject all evidence and rational argument. Until then, we're pleased to provide information.