Comment by IncreasePosts
16 days ago
I disagree - there are two independent systems at play here - human success, and evolutionary success.
It's unlikely that there are many ancestors of Eleanor of Aquitaine that achieved more human success than George Washington. However, George left this world with zero descendants and his line effectively ended with him. Whereas I'm sure there are a bunch of duds out there who are the same relation to Eleanor of Aquitaine and produced 9 children who each produced a handful of children.
And we are always being reminded that human is well within evolutionary paradigm, are we not?
I think there's very much underestimation that the so called modern world is more civilized and successful in their worldly endeavours compared to the earlier generations. It's probable that for Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alexander the Great and/or Aristotle are the ancestors. Comparing George Washington against Alexander and Aristotle, I'd say there is no contest for the former.