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If there are only two humans left, then it’s already too late. We need a breeding population of around 50, or we will suffer genetic collapse (the actual number

• skissane 4y ago
  The arguments of that paper are for wild animals; it is open to question how true they would be for humans. Non-human animals get most of their adaptability from their genetics, and relatively little from culture; humans get a huge amount of their adaptability from culture. Humans may need less genetic variability to survive than other species do. It would also depend on how much of human knowledge and technology the sole surviving breeding pair would be able to retain. I don't doubt the odds would be against human survival in such a scenario, but I think we have to question how applicable research on other species is for humans – humans are capable of things no other species can do.