SpaceyCat: It may be true that the IMMEDIATE offspring aren't as likely to have genetic disabilities, but what happens if that occurs generation after generation?

\The family tree should branch

See, that SOUNDS intuitively correct, and then Japan blows that theory out of the water. Surely they are not a genetically diverse population, what with their being isolated on an island and having a culture that (at least historically) shuns outsiders? How are you going to branch out the family tree if you're restricted to an area of roughly 145,000 square miles?

If everyone in the world is a cousin to everyone else to at least some degree, then I'm willing to bet the Japanese people, on average, have cousinship with one another to a greater degree than, say, the population of the U.S. (Again, talking averages here, I'm sure there are areas of the U.S. that can compete when it comes to cousin breeding.) Yet, it doesn't seem to have soured their gene pool, at least not in the area of intelligence potential.

People always say, "Well those rednecks in the South are retarded because they all breed with their cousins, hyuck hyuck." Yet Japan is a living example of an isolated, genetically homogenous population that seems to do just fine. What am I missing?

B.L.Z. Bub: SpaceyCat: It may be true that the IMMEDIATE offspring aren't as likely to have genetic disabilities, but what happens if that occurs generation after generation?

\The family tree should branch

See, that SOUNDS intuitively correct, and then Japan blows that theory out of the water. Surely they are not a genetically diverse population, what with their being isolated on an island and having a culture that (at least historically) shuns outsiders? How are you going to branch out the family tree if you're restricted to an area of roughly 145,000 square miles?

It sounds intuitively correct but, more importantly, is pretty immaterial to cousins. The chances of a first-cousin relationship passing on defective genetic material is only about 2% higher than total non-relations. Which is already pretty low to begin with.

dang sure: better than the slut

with her juicy past

no one breeds with their cousins anymore anyway

mobility is too great

the i've been farking for 15 years thirty year old

your so "lucky" to have found

old, frkked out, std'd, bitter

only female worse

her older divorced sister

people are used cars in a way

if you can't be romeo or juliet

seek your level

let the whores, male and female enjoy what they can with each other

avoid them like the plague

many are shiny, many more aren't even shiny

off your meds?

Ed Willy: [download.lardlad.com image 320x240]

Point to Shelbyville

My thoughts exactly

Well, yeah, the offspring of a pair of cousins only has a (1/2)^6 chance of expressing a recessive from the point where the ancestry intertwines at worst (pretty much all "genetic diseases" are recessives, and this the the maximum because it assumes the disorder isn't polygenic). 1.6% multiplied by the prevalence of the recessive in the population (because the ancestor has to harbor the recessive in the first place) isn't really a big increase in risk.

I mean, the difference between the chance of your kid having a one in a million chance to get a disease and a 1.016 in a million chance to get a disease isn't exactly something most people would find worrisome. Admittedly if you're the child of siblings the increase goes up to 6.25% times the frequency of the recessive, which is more substantial, and longer-term genetic isolation of an entire population pushes the increases up pretty hard after a few generations.

//Add in that many disorders probably require multiple genes and the increase in expression relative to the general population is going to be even smaller.
//Not exactly a groundbreaking theory here, basically.

So immigration is up in Australia and yet intra-family/inbreeding is increasing?

How does that work?

I dated a girl with parents who were also cousins. She had a set of DD's that defied gravity. Just sayin'.

Weeners

/hot

I'd rather mate with Kate Upton. We're cousins. 5000000000000 times removed.

Point to Shelbyville

My cousins aren't hot, so I'm against consanguineous sexual relations.

I've never really had a problem with cousin lovin'. Good enough for Einstein, good enough for me. Shame my cousins are religious nuts. They'd never go for it...