Marcus Ross is a YEC at Liberty University and author for Answers and Genesis. He is a geologist.
Dr. Joshua Swamidass has undertaken quite a task: to persuade a wide range of readers, both Christian and non-Christian, that Adam and Eve did in fact exist. Specifically, they were created de novo by God only a few thousand years ago, placed in the Garden of Eden, fell into temptation and sin, were exiled, and are the ancestors of all humans alive today. As a young earth creationist, I wholeheartedly agree. They are the clear teachings of Scripture. All of this sounds very good.
Almost. I intend to persuade people that they could have existed, consistent with the evolutionary science. It seems I have succeeded in this.
Ross’s review is unique in that it raises scientific objections to the GAE.
My first critique of GAE concerns scientific methodology.
My second critique of GAE’s scientific case concerns Swamidass’s presentation of the genealogical research central to his hypothesis.
I like how he poses the supposed problem:
As it turns out, we need not wait long, because cited in his own book is a detailed genealogical simulation from 2016 that directly contradicts this prediction. In chapters 4 and 5, Swamidass cites the analytical research of Kelleher et al. (2016) while building his case for a 6,000–10,000-year-old GAE. Yet the findings of their research offer no such support. Consider this from their conclusion:
For our own species, assuming a dispersal distance of only a few kilometers, it would take some thousands of generations for ancestors to spread world-wide—much longer than the hundreds of generations taken in the model of Rohde et al . (2004). However, occasional long-range movements can greatly accelerate spread, and so the actual time may lie between these extremes.
How does “some thousands of generations ” compare with GAE?
He is referencing this article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040580915001094
For now, I leave it as a puzzle to the readers how this objection is answered. I will do my best to keep my actual rejoinder under-wraps till Friday, in two days.
