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This story reminds me of that episode on the TV show, The Orville. Season 1 Episode 9. Both the Navarians and Bruidians lay claim as the planet's original settlers. An ancient artifact containing residual DNA is discovered. They agree to a neutral third party to analyze the DNA to determine the planet's original settlers. Spoiler alert: Toward the end of the episode, the analyzed DNA determines both groups shared a common ancestor


Or the TNG episode 'The Chase' where it's revealed that humans, Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians all came from a common ancestor.


I think in the case of humans, all from planet earth, it is trivial to go back and find an obvious common ancestor [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_common_descent?wpr...


> in the case of humans, all from planet earth, it is trivial to go back and find an obvious common ancestor

It is trivial to demonstrate the likely existence of a common ancestor. It’s far from trivial to find them.


don't forget Vulcans, and there are also half-Bajorans, right?


That seems like it must be using sci-fi as a lens for social commentary—an age-old tradition, of course.


Narurally. I think it's widely recognized that social commentary is what distinguishes science fiction (which casts a lens on possible futures extrapolated from our present) from fantasy (escapism, mythology, or hedonism).


So Discworld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld) or Earthsea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthsea) are science fiction for you?


well, the first line of the linked page says these are "comic fantasy" and "high fantasy" respectively, so no (though I think Discworld is arguably sci fi). But I get your point and concede that genre boundaries are not solid but more like intersecting clouds.


Orville is really thinly veiled most of the time.


Biblically it’s already understood that Jews and Muslims share a common ancestor.


Scientifically it's already understood that all life on earth shares a common ancestor.


Even platypuses? (Platypii?) (Platypora?) (Platypae?) (Platypodes?) Platypods, definitely.

Are you absolutely sure they weren't engineered by some alien mad scientist? Or even a sane one, just for giggles?


Not Octopoda!


It's pretty well understood linguistically as well


Doesn’t the bible predate Islam?




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