[dumbo-octopus]

What is your claim exactly? It seems as if you think somehow DNA didn’t exist as a means of transferring genetic information to offspring prior to it being discovered. I can’t imagine you actually think that, so I’m at a loss for what your point might be.

[danans]

> It seems as if you think somehow DNA didn’t exist as a means of transferring genetic information to offspring prior to it being discovered.

No that's not what I said. I said that DNA, though inherited, is irrelevant for determining cultural identity.

If I discover tomorrow that I carry YDNA haplotype J1, that doesn't make me Jewish, either culturally or ancestrally. Nobody could claim me as ancestrally Jewish based on that either.

Having a documented lineage stretching back many generations, however, would possibly do both, should I choose to embrace it.

[dumbo-octopus]

You’re the only one here fascinated with this haplotype. Which is odd, considering you yourself call it inconsequential. Nobody but you has equated it with anything, and you have specifically said it does not equate to anything. So all in all this is just a textbook strawman, which I have no interest in further considering.