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I've read that there are "genetic bottlenecks" in human DNA that imply that one point in time, the population of homo sapiens consisted of only a couple thousan

I've read that there are "genetic bottlenecks" in human DNA that imply that one point in time, the population of homo sapiens consisted of only a couple thousand individuals. It stands to reason that there are tons of human subspecies that didn't make it.

Bayart 5y ago
More interestingly, there were several bottlenecks over the course of our evolution and we could have gone extinct at multiple points.
koheripbal 5y ago
This isn't accurate.
- jefft255 5y ago
  He didn’t give a source, you didn’t either, come on I’m curious to know!
- SonicScrub 5y ago
  Wiki article on the Toba Catastrophe theory. Sparks Notes: - It is thought that the Toba Super-Volcano eruption is linked to a severe drop in human populations due to it's influence on global climate - Some genetic evidence supports today's humans are descended from a very small population of between 1,000 and 10,000 breeding pairs that existed about 70,000 years ago - This hypothesis isn't yet solid, and there is some evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless it's discussion is an important topic in the history of mankind. Now I understand your comment might be referring to that third point. If so, it would be excellent if your comment made some sort of reference to your reasoning. Simply saying "this isn't accurate" aren't the kinds of comments that make Hacker News the site it is. Instead let's make comments that further discussion and increase learning of the topics at hand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20genetic%20bottleneck,to%203%2C000%E2%80%9310%2C000%20surviving%20individuals.&text=A%2010%2Dyear%20volcanic%20winter,severe%20reduction%20in%20population%20sizes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory#:~:tex....
  - koheripbal 5y ago
    A bottleneck implies that there was a single population, which would indeed have narrowed diversity. ...but what is actually seen in that theory is that all populations around the world shrank - only some were entirely exterminated. This means that diversity was not tremendously impacted. Taking one person from every village around the world preserves the majority of all diversity, whereas taking 10000 people from a single population, destroys diversity.
throwawaygal7 5y ago
The numbers I've seen are something like as low as a few thousand for European population, but more like 5k for African populations Of course, these are model populations based on idealized breeding right- I believe the way these estimates work is that they represent the idealized minimum bound for a real population that was likely magnitudes greater but had lots of deaths. And as others have pointed out I believe there were several bottle neck events in the 'recent' past
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Then there is "Mitochondrial Eve", a single individual from whom entire sections of humanity descend!
  - gonnano 5y ago
    Bryan Sykesan, An Oxford geneticist claimed all Europeans came from 7 females he called the 7 daughters of Eve, although he wasn't always right in his assumption's
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    From Wikipedia: "Cann, Stoneking and Wilson did not use the term "Mitochondrial Eve" or even the name "Eve" in their original paper; it appears to originate with a 1987 article in Science by Roger Lewin, headlined "The Unmasking of Mitochondrial Eve."[19] The biblical connotation was very clear from the start. The accompanying research news in Nature had the title "Out of the garden of Eden."[20] Wilson himself preferred the term "Lucky Mother"[21] and thought the use of the name Eve "regrettable" It is unfortunate, that biblical myths still try to influence research. But it is popular.
    - CryptoPunk 5y ago
      Myths are useful cultural references, in being universally understood. I didn't interpret the use of the term Eve here to connote any religious intimations.
      - 5y ago

Bayart 5y ago

More interestingly, there were several bottlenecks over the course of our evolution and we could have gone extinct at multiple points.

koheripbal 5y ago

This isn't accurate.

jefft255 5y ago
He didn’t give a source, you didn’t either, come on I’m curious to know!
SonicScrub 5y ago
Wiki article on the Toba Catastrophe theory. Sparks Notes: - It is thought that the Toba Super-Volcano eruption is linked to a severe drop in human populations due to it's influence on global climate - Some genetic evidence supports today's humans are descended from a very small population of between 1,000 and 10,000 breeding pairs that existed about 70,000 years ago - This hypothesis isn't yet solid, and there is some evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless it's discussion is an important topic in the history of mankind. Now I understand your comment might be referring to that third point. If so, it would be excellent if your comment made some sort of reference to your reasoning. Simply saying "this isn't accurate" aren't the kinds of comments that make Hacker News the site it is. Instead let's make comments that further discussion and increase learning of the topics at hand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20genetic%20bottleneck,to%203%2C000%E2%80%9310%2C000%20surviving%20individuals.&text=A%2010%2Dyear%20volcanic%20winter,severe%20reduction%20in%20population%20sizes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory#:~:tex....
- koheripbal 5y ago
  A bottleneck implies that there was a single population, which would indeed have narrowed diversity. ...but what is actually seen in that theory is that all populations around the world shrank - only some were entirely exterminated. This means that diversity was not tremendously impacted. Taking one person from every village around the world preserves the majority of all diversity, whereas taking 10000 people from a single population, destroys diversity.

throwawaygal7 5y ago

The numbers I've seen are something like as low as a few thousand for European population, but more like 5k for African populations Of course, these are model populations based on idealized breeding right- I believe the way these estimates work is that they represent the idealized minimum bound for a real population that was likely magnitudes greater but had lots of deaths. And as others have pointed out I believe there were several bottle neck events in the 'recent' past

JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Then there is "Mitochondrial Eve", a single individual from whom entire sections of humanity descend!
- gonnano 5y ago
  Bryan Sykesan, An Oxford geneticist claimed all Europeans came from 7 females he called the 7 daughters of Eve, although he wasn't always right in his assumption's
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  From Wikipedia: "Cann, Stoneking and Wilson did not use the term "Mitochondrial Eve" or even the name "Eve" in their original paper; it appears to originate with a 1987 article in Science by Roger Lewin, headlined "The Unmasking of Mitochondrial Eve."[19] The biblical connotation was very clear from the start. The accompanying research news in Nature had the title "Out of the garden of Eden."[20] Wilson himself preferred the term "Lucky Mother"[21] and thought the use of the name Eve "regrettable" It is unfortunate, that biblical myths still try to influence research. But it is popular.
  - CryptoPunk 5y ago
    Myths are useful cultural references, in being universally understood. I didn't interpret the use of the term Eve here to connote any religious intimations.
    - 5y ago