Quote:
Originally Posted by Sindri
For customs to maintain genetic spread, I know that there are some mostly isolated settlements that have developed widespread genetic issues. Does anyone know how common these are compared to ones that haven't? Either way they won't be without customs for genetic spread but they probably won't have as extreme as we could imagine people coming up with to intentionally handle it.
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There are very few real examples that are completely, 100% isolated. Even one additional geneset injected every generation or so is enough to maintain the genetic diversity of a 10,000-person population indefinitely.
Pitcairn Island, uninhabited before being settled by the survivors of the
Bounty mutineers, had developed fairly severe inbreeding by the time it was rediscovered by the British.
I am not convinced that any natural population (vs., say, the complement of a generation ship) would realize the necessity of genetic controls or implement them successfully without severe, dictatorial intervention for several generations. The problem is too remote and too abstract to provide an emotionally satisfactory justification for the hardships required. In a setting before 1980 or so, or too small to have a college faculty, it is unlikely that anyone would have the tools to even recognize the problem
a priori, much less propose and impose the necessary solutions.