DNA Tests: Recreational Science
Oct 24, 2021 16:10:58 GMT -8
Post by Uncle Buddy on Oct 24, 2021 16:10:58 GMT -8
Two identical twins take five different DNA tests and get ten different results. Do the math.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa5c1p6aC0
Genealogy is based on documents and gravestones and other evidence that we can see with our own eyes, so we evaluate our own evidence and we do it ourselves. Genealogy has been around a long, long time.
On the other hand, DNA genealogy is the flavor of the week. It hasn't been around long enough to know what it's doing yet. But we are dependent on this commercialized and over-hyped "science" to evaluate its own results. Why is everyone suddenly so keen to hire a commercial entity to evaluate evidence for them? Is that how we do our hobbies nowadays?
Standard document-based genealogy isn't infallible either. That's what makes it fun. Do crossword puzzle experts enjoy easy crossword puzzles? No, they enjoy hard ones. We need multiple bits of evidence to prove one assertion. Not that very many things are ever really proven. Like the death row inmate who is suddenly released--if it's not too late--because the court system has decided that the jury of twelve humans was wrong. As it turns out, voting on what's real has its weaknesses.
Here's an analogy for how today's DNA genealogy works.
I was researching Solomon Hornback's first wife who I'll call "Jane Doe" so as to not add to the confusion by using the completely wrong transcription from ancestry.com's search results. I downloaded the document and it was completely illegible, very low resolution. I have no idea how they decided that Solomon's wife was named "Jane Doe". Someone must have had a sixth sense or something. I wasted plenty of time searching for other documents mentioning "Jane Doe".
Then some time later, I found the same marriage license on familysearch.org. Hey, guess what? The document was perfectly easy to read, and the name "Jane Doe" was nothing remotely like the real name, Columbia Powel.
With today's DNA evaluation services, you get something analagous to "Jane Doe" and then this information is propagated from tree to tree since people don't do their own research. Information which, for all that it cost you, you'd be better off ignoring if you care about accuracy. With tomorrow's DNA services, you might get the continent that your ancestors were really from.
If you're lucky.
In light of this perspective, Treebard is about documents and things we can see with our own eyes and evaluate for ourselves.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa5c1p6aC0
Genealogy is based on documents and gravestones and other evidence that we can see with our own eyes, so we evaluate our own evidence and we do it ourselves. Genealogy has been around a long, long time.
On the other hand, DNA genealogy is the flavor of the week. It hasn't been around long enough to know what it's doing yet. But we are dependent on this commercialized and over-hyped "science" to evaluate its own results. Why is everyone suddenly so keen to hire a commercial entity to evaluate evidence for them? Is that how we do our hobbies nowadays?
Standard document-based genealogy isn't infallible either. That's what makes it fun. Do crossword puzzle experts enjoy easy crossword puzzles? No, they enjoy hard ones. We need multiple bits of evidence to prove one assertion. Not that very many things are ever really proven. Like the death row inmate who is suddenly released--if it's not too late--because the court system has decided that the jury of twelve humans was wrong. As it turns out, voting on what's real has its weaknesses.
Here's an analogy for how today's DNA genealogy works.
I was researching Solomon Hornback's first wife who I'll call "Jane Doe" so as to not add to the confusion by using the completely wrong transcription from ancestry.com's search results. I downloaded the document and it was completely illegible, very low resolution. I have no idea how they decided that Solomon's wife was named "Jane Doe". Someone must have had a sixth sense or something. I wasted plenty of time searching for other documents mentioning "Jane Doe".
Then some time later, I found the same marriage license on familysearch.org. Hey, guess what? The document was perfectly easy to read, and the name "Jane Doe" was nothing remotely like the real name, Columbia Powel.
With today's DNA evaluation services, you get something analagous to "Jane Doe" and then this information is propagated from tree to tree since people don't do their own research. Information which, for all that it cost you, you'd be better off ignoring if you care about accuracy. With tomorrow's DNA services, you might get the continent that your ancestors were really from.
If you're lucky.
In light of this perspective, Treebard is about documents and things we can see with our own eyes and evaluate for ourselves.