At 04:22 PM 2/9/00 GMT0BST, Stephen Gorard wrote:
>If we imagine that one 'generation' occurs every 25 years for the
>sake of argument, and agree that everyone in each generation had 2
>parents, 4 grand-parents and so on, then...
>
>250 years ago each of us had 1,024 antecedents, 500 years ago each of
>us had 1,048,576 antecedents and so on.
>
>In the year1066, for example, we should have had more antecedents not
>just than the number of people on the planet at that time, but also
>more than the total number of people since that time.
>
>This makes the notion of separate 'races' somewhat tentative (or
>dependent on a remarkable amount of incest).
>
>
I am even more concerned that, if the number of people alive today is
greater than the total of those who lived in the past, the notion of
reincarnation becomes problematical, or at least, we can't all claim past
lives. Have you given any thought to this awkward situation?
Cheers,
David Klein
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|