A Family Tree of all Mankind - part 2

     So this project begins egocentrically perhaps, with myself in the present (I did say I included my wife's ancestors too, but for simplicity let's ignore that for now). And I list my 2 parents, and then 4 grandparents, and then 8 great-grandparents etc.. and so on and so forth, as far back as I am able to go along all possible lines. For clarity let me throw up a quick diagram to show the trunk of the tree - the focal point of the whole project:

     To be pedantic about it, the above tree isn't the best example, because each generation there is shown circularly outward from the trunk. A better way to envision the tree is to get each generation lined up with itself horizontally like so:

      That's more like it. And in that flat-topped-tree style, here's what my actual data looks like out to four generations:

 

   

      So let's break out some math because we're going to need it. If you continue building up a tree in this manner, it doesn't take very long before it gets BIG. It's growth is exponential with the base of 2. One generation back you have 2^1 = 2 ancestors. Two generations back you have 2^2 = 4 ancestors. Three generations back you have 2^3 = 8 ancestors. etc... So n generations back you will have 2^n ancestors. (Note: This is valid for zero generations too because 2^0 = 1. Isn't math neat?) This of course is true only if all the ancestors are known and entered into the tree. Obviously, the further back in time you go, the less "complete" your ancestor tree will be. So my tree grows less slowly than 2^n, and you might say 2^n is an upper bound. But still it explodes pretty rapidly. This looks like a good place to link the Chapter One portion of the book I printed out back in 2009. I worked so hard to make it look neat and perfect back then, but now since I've done more research and developed the tree further, it's not as complete as my current version... which I am unable to provide at this time for technical reasons. But it's now roughly twice as big, and terminates in 13 gateway ancestors that begin my Chapter 2 - Middle Ages. This Chapter one linked here terminates in only 4 "gateway ancestors" that I had known at the time. Note: I'm now up to 13 gateway ancestors which are shown at the bottom of my roadmap/diagram. Obviously my Chapter 2 here from 2009 is outdated also, but I'm not going to make another pdf of it. There's nothing fundamentally important or unique about the gateway ancestors in the real world. Their selection is totally dependent upon the topology of my tree based on the particular nodes and connections within it. They are the easiest way that I know, how to cut or sever the tree between chapters one and two.

Continued on page 3.

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