Populations got much bigger post-Industrial revolution, after which very few people were farmers.
I’m pretty sure more people who have existed were non-farmers just from that growth, by a huge margin.
But I’m not sure whether or not that should carry over to ancestors. On one hand, you can only have so many ancestors at a time, and explosive industrial population growth doesn’t change that. But smaller farming populations might mean more of my family tree crossing over itself, and so fewer unique farming ancestors?
I’m pretty sure more people who have existed were non-farmers just from that growth, by a huge margin.
This is wrong, if we date the Industrial revolution to ~1750. According to this article, the halfway point for “number of humans who have ever lived” is likely before 1200 CE.
Populations got much bigger post-Industrial revolution, after which very few people were farmers. I’m pretty sure more people who have existed were non-farmers just from that growth, by a huge margin.
But I’m not sure whether or not that should carry over to ancestors. On one hand, you can only have so many ancestors at a time, and explosive industrial population growth doesn’t change that. But smaller farming populations might mean more of my family tree crossing over itself, and so fewer unique farming ancestors?
This is wrong, if we date the Industrial revolution to ~1750. According to this article, the halfway point for “number of humans who have ever lived” is likely before 1200 CE.