# How unique are people, really? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971 "2026-10-19T18:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spacecadet86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@spacecadet86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spacecadet86)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/1 "2026-10-19T18:39:21Z")
Would it be accurate to assume as generations pass, even though some progress gets made, there are some similar personality archetypes conserved through the ages? Hence the old adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/2 "2026-10-19T19:14:31Z")
There’s a strong argument that human nature evolves only glacially slowly. Human society can evolve a lot faster. So what kind of “progress” are you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/3 "2026-10-19T19:26:04Z")
I often wonder if there were really more true-believers in religion before the Age of Reason than after. Maybe there were just as many skeptics as now but kept it to themselves just for their own personal safety. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/4 "2026-10-19T19:31:12Z")
I think this varied a lot during the ages of Christianity. Earlier in history when polytheism was the default, being a non-believer didn’t make sense. It would have been like denying that the wind existed. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/5 "2026-10-19T19:39:41Z")
Genetically, humans are not that diverse at all. For one thing, everyone outside of africa only left about 60,000 years ago. So there has only been 60,000 years for evolution and natural selection to take place for all the people outside africa (vs 300,000 years for evolution to take place in africa). But also humans have faced several genetic bottlenecks in our history aside from that. The toba explosion for example about 74,000 brought us down to about 5000 breeding individuals. So we aren’t that diverse genetically, which underlies our biology and personalities. But yeah I think there are rough archetypes that are conserved, hence we have documents like the DSM-V as well as personality tests like the HEXACO, MMPI-3, etc However as time passes and life gets better on most metrics (better parents, more human rights, more wealth, more medicine) people generally become more pro-social and less anti-social overall, which is good. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/6 "2026-10-19T19:43:45Z")
There’s only a finite number of human phenotypes. And a lot of that variation is in nonvisible things like the immune system. Maybe not yet, but someday, there will be another human that to outward appearances is your twin. (Environmental differences make this less likely. Different nutrition will impact appearance.) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/7 "2026-10-19T19:53:11Z")
> [@spacecadet86](#): > > there are some similar personality archetypes conserved through the ages? Works written by the likes of Homer and Shakespeare suggest the only difference between people now vs. then is some superficial customs and building materials & techniques. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/8 "2026-10-19T21:11:14Z")
To outward appearances, there are already plenty of people who look indistinguishable from any given person. I remember seeing a picture on my aunt’s wall, of two people in robes, one handing a diploma to the other, and wondering why she had a picture of my graduation. But then I realized that the one who looked just like me was the one giving the diploma, not receiving it, and the other was my cousin (her son). Apparently the dean or president or whatever other dignitary at his college was my doppelganger. ---
**Author:** ![spacecadet86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@spacecadet86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spacecadet86)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/9 "2026-10-19T23:27:09Z")
I’ve had this line floating in my head for the longest time about this; it goes: “The faces may change, but the assholes stay the same.” On account of despite how much technology may advance, we never change our nature. Our human nature. And also because we develop asshole first in the womb. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/10 "2026-10-20T14:06:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To outward appearances, there are already plenty of people who look indistinguishable from any given person. I always wonder about facial features. We all have a head, eyes, nose mouth/lips. How can there be so many variations that we don’t run into lookalikes all of the time? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/11 "2026-10-20T14:12:22Z")
_‘I shouldn’t know you again if we **did** meet,’ Humpty Dumpty replied in a discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake; ‘you’re so exactly like other people.’_ _‘The face is what one goes by, generally,’ Alice remarked in a thoughtful tone._ _‘That’s just what I complain of,’ said Humpty Dumpty. ‘Your face is the same as everybody has—the two eyes, so—’ (marking their places in the air with this thumb) ‘nose in the middle, mouth under. It’s always the same. Now if you had the two eyes on the same side of the nose, for instance—or the mouth at the top—that would be **some** help.’_ ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/12 "2026-10-20T14:13:07Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > How can there be so many variations that we don’t run into lookalikes all of the time? It’s not so much that we’re all different, but that we perceive any difference. The human brain is evolved to distinguish differences in facial features. And then we spend a lifetime practicing that skill. We are very, very good at noticing subtle facial differences. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/13 "2026-10-20T14:16:50Z")
The title and the body of the OP seem to be asking different questions? How unique are people? Completely unique. Each person that is and ever has been is a unique individual. Even identical twins raised in the same home. Unique. Are basic personality archetypes conserved? Yes. Human nature hasn’t changed much. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/14 "2026-10-20T14:36:22Z")
I used to be irritated that no one took pictures of me when I was in grade/middle/high school (except for school pictures). Back then, there were no easy cameras in everyone’s house, no cell phones with cameras, no one-hour photo places. So there are no pictures of me at the prom or a in a girl scout ceremony or ice skating. However. When I look at a nostalgia page and there are pictures from yearbooks and the random photo of school sports in the 60’s, I realize most of us just basically looked alike. Same manner of dressing, similar hairdos, same eyeglass frames. Anyone today would be hard pressed to pick some relative out of the crowd, of the group picture taken on the steps of the school. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/15 "2026-10-20T14:40:19Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > It’s not so much that we’re all different, but that we perceive any difference. And, a person whose facial structure falls outside the norm (very wide-set or narrow-set eyes, an unusually-shaped nose or jawline, a missing or oddly-shaped earlobe, etc.) are so unexpected that a lot of people can’t help but stare. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/16 "2026-10-20T14:48:47Z")
Yes, the OP seems interested in personalities or personality types. I would make the same answer you did (i.e. everyone is unique and has unique experiences) but add that it depends on how granular you want to get. My personal preference is to treat each person as an individual and not to try to categorize them into groups. Some of that can be useful for some purposes, but when it comes to interpersonal relationships, it’s all down to the individual and their unique qualities. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/17 "2026-10-20T20:26:35Z")
There’s plenty of legit research that ordinary people are real good at recognizing facial differences within their own race. And tend to fall back on "they (mostly) all look alike " for people of other races. Point being that the range of total facial features is just as wide in e.g. white people as Black. But the ways they differ differ. Someone raised on white faces gets good atpaying attention to the ways white faces differ and pays little attention to the ways white faces are all similar. Black folks do the same thing; they become attuned to the way black faces differ, not the ways therey’re all similar. When either crowd tries to recognize folks from the other, they’re not as skilled at it because they’re habituated to paying attention to features irrelevant within the other race. More interracial exposure can certainly help overcome that childhood training. But it’s built-in pretty deep. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unique-are-people-really/1033971/18 "2026-10-21T21:00:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > recognizing facial differences The neurophysiology of face recognition and differentiation is really interesting. The key area gets called the fusiform face area (FFA) and the unclear bit is how much it really is specifically evolved to discriminate between faces quickly vs being an expert area with faces being the most all pervasive set that we are all expert on. It also gets activated in bird type identification by expert birders, and cars by car buffs, albeit not as strongly as for faces. Its being more activated in the group of faces an individual has the most experience with is consistent with its expert role … but could be just commandeered for that use?