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Ray
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One of the more influential recent estimates by demographer Massimo Livi-Bacci suggests that thirty thousand years ago there were a few hundred thousand humans, but by ten thousand years ago there may have been as many as 6 million. If we
...more
“Something in the order of a 107 billion modern humans have existed, though this number depends on when exactly you start counting. All of them – of us – are close cousins, as our species has a single African origin. We don’t quite have the language to describe what that really means. It doesn’t, for example, mean a single couple, a hypothetical Adam and Eve. We think of families and pedigrees and genealogies and ancestry, and we try to think of the deep past in the same way. Who were my ancestors? You might have a simple, traditional family structure or, like me, it could be handsomely untidy, and its tendrils jumbled like old wires in a drawer. But no matter which, everyone’s past becomes muddled sooner or later.”
― A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes
― A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes
“Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.”
― Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
― Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
“quotidian”
― Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
― Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
“A gene encodes a phenotype – that is, the physical manifestation of a piece of DNA – and differences in those physical manifestations in a population are visible to nature as a means of selecting what works better. The gene that encodes that phenotype is what is transmitted from generation to generation, the unit of inheritance. A gene for processing goat’s milk after weaning was selected in humans over a gene that did not permit digestion of a nutritious drink. Individuals are merely carriers of genes, which drive the necessity of procreating simply so that the existence of the gene is perpetuated.”
― The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us
― The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us
“Your genome is the totality of your DNA, 3 billion letters of it, and due to the way it comes together – by the mysterious (from a biological point of view) business of sex – it is unique to you. Not only is this genetic fingerprint yours alone, it’s unlike any other of the 107 billion people who have ever lived. That applies even if you are an identical twin, whose genomes begin their existence indistinguishable, but inch away from each other moments after conception. In the”
― A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes
― A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes
Myths and Legends
— 171 members
— last activity Feb 08, 2026 02:10AM
This is a group to discover books that incorporate all different kinds of myths and legends
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
— 42441 members
— last activity 42 minutes ago
Hi there! SFFBC is a welcoming place for readers to share their love of speculative fiction through group reads, buddy reads, challenges, ...more
Ask Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman
— 662 members
— last activity Sep 22, 2021 11:34AM
Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman will be answering questions from readers in this special group on Friday, November 21st. They'll be discussing Amanda’ ...more
Ray’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ray’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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