Hi Mary, Thanks so much for this message. And thanks to everyone for the feedback, both positive and skeptical!
It's true -- I'm a beginner. I'm still learning about genealogy and mastering Wikitree. But I can tell you that I'm here to stay. I'm super-excited about the Global Family Reunion. In fact, I've never been more excited about a project in my life.
And as some of you mentioned, it's for a good cause. The Reunion itself will be a fundraiser for Alzheimer's Research. (I'm not making any money off the reunion ). And in the next few weeks I'll be approaching foundations to fund it. I want it to be free to attendees, so they can just come and experience the exhibits and music and talks meet fascinating people.
The other big message of the Reunion -- which I know is a bit quixotic -- is I want to get across the idea that humans are all one big family, and that we should treat each other with a little more kindness. I got a great email today from a geneticist who talks about this (I'm pasting the email below)
And thank you for the concern about the celebrities. It's a great point. We may be related to George Washington, but we're also related to thousands of scullery maids and night soil men. I'm interested in them all.
I guess the reason to bring celebrities into it is two-fold: First, to help raise publicity. Which I don't think is a bad thing. The more people who get interested in crowdsourced genealogy, the more likely we are to achieve the dream of a world family tree. And second, I think -- and I could be wrong, since I'm not the wikitree expert that you guys are yet -- it helps make connections. So that if my friend knows he's related to Albert Einstein, and I'm related to Einstein, then we know we'll be able to make a link.
As for the accuracy, I'm been blown away by the attention to accuracy from Abby and Chris and everyone else working on this project.
Oh, and one more point. You're right -- the wording on my website about wikitree is awkward! I will fix that. I'm launching a new website in the next couple of weeks and will give wikitree the billing it deserves.
Anyway, I love the honest feedback. And if you have any concerns, compliments, complaints, please feel free to email me directly, if you want. I'm very reachable at aj-at-ajjacobs.com
Thanks again!
Dear A.J.
so nice to meet you and hear your wonderful plans. i work at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta. i too share your hope that an increased understanding of how similar we are (at the DNA sequence identity level) >99.5% within the human species will have a profound effect on how we view each other as humans. although i study the small differences that may lead to different health risks in different ethnicities, i always try to emphasize the overwhelming identity of our species. it’s just that 0.1% of 3 billion is still 3 million. You can make a big deal of the 3 million differences, but 2,997,000,000 identical bases dwarfs that number. it’s all relative (pun intended). we have a lot to learn about other differences (insertions and deletions of pieces of DNA), but for the present time we can focus on the overwhelming sequence identity while pushing for social equality.
a few things that I wanted to share with you:
--my wikitree link:
http://www.WikiTree.com/treewidget/Bowen-1368/4