From a mathematical and genealogical standpoint, all living humans are actually much closer than 50th cousins. Population geneticists and mathematical models of human ancestry demonstrate that the "pedigree collapse" phenomenon—caused by the fact that the number of ancestors doubles every generation going back, quickly exceeding historical population sizes—means everyone alive today shares common ancestors who lived only a few thousand years ago. Consequently, any two living humans share common ancestors far more recently than 50 generations, making us all much closer relatives, such as 15th to 30th cousins or even closer.