[ExI] Ashkenazi Longevity was Re: The Catholic Impact (was Re: Origin of ethics and morals)

[PJ Manney]

2011/12/14 Ilia Stambler <ilia.stambler at gmail.com>:
>  > "3) Beyond that early intermarriage, we're really inbred!"
> I am wondering whether the inbreeding generally had anything to do with this
> increasing longevity.

Yes, it's likely it's another example of the founder effect.

> Here is for example what has been reported about seed beetles (thought there
> have been conflicting data on other species of insects and animals, i.e.
> unlike in this case, showing that inbreeding generally decreases longevity):

> “Inbreeding can unexpectedly extend male lifespan. Insect experiments
> described in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have shown
> that, in seed beetles, inbreeding causes males to live longer, while
> shortening female lifespan.”

> http://www.biomedcentral.com/presscenter/pressreleases/20090204

> I am an Ashkenazi Israeli myself, so I hope I won’t be suspected in any
> politically incorrectness, or any other malice. Just trying to figure it
> out...

Try not to worry about asking questions that might be construed as
politically incorrect or malicious, if it comes from a good and
curious place.  I dislike and fear the censorship of research because
the answers might be politically or culturally inconvenient.

We're lucky, because Ashkenazi have more information about their
genetics than any other group in the world, being an easy, highly
cooperative and unusual population to study, leading to general
research on genomics.  But even after 40+ years of questions and
attempted answers, we still know so little.

PJ