Facebook Explodes for Capielano

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

@John_Harshman

I reasoned that any theistic evolutionist would be thrilled to have the possibility of our original parents being sole progenitors of the human race because it is much easier to reconcile with the Bible.

I don’t think that’s the case. “Sole progenitor” is the big sticking point, since it requires either a bottleneck of 2, implausible given the data, or separate creation of humans, exceedingly implausible given the data. This is the point of the genealogical Adam scenario, as it would be undetectable from the data.

@John_Harshman there are different types of sole-progenitorship, genetic and genealogical. I am making a strong distinction between them. From a theological point of view, it seems that genealogical sole-progenitorship (which allows for interbreeding) is sufficient for historically important doctrine. Yes, I am coining a term here.

Also, it appears that @Celeste_Williams_Cap is also referencing a bottleneck back before 500 kya. Genetic-sole progenitorship world be consistent with the evidence, but certainly not indicated by it. It will be interesting to see which directly people go, but it seems most people see value in the recent genealogical model.