How unfathomable were your odds of coming into being?

Remember in Watchmen, when Doctor Manhattan waxes all sentimental about the miracle of human existence? If you do, you'll recall that he's not talking about the human race — he's talking about the "unfathomable odds" of any specific, individual person coming into being.

Probability of your existing at all: 1 in 10^2,685,000.
We are each unique and lucky to even be here.....

io9.com...

reply to post by LeRoy1968


I think about that sometimes.

When People tell me the are going to hit the Lotto.

To myself I think....Again?

Originally posted by LeRoy1968

Probability of your existing at all: 1 in 10^2,685,000.
We are each unique and lucky to even be here.....

Are we really lucky to be here? I guess that would depend on your circumstances, or mindset?

Would you know if you weren't here? We feel lucky to be alive because we fear death, and we only fear death because we are alive. It's the reason we 'created' god in the first place, because we couldn't function with the realization of none-existence. The realization that we do not exist after death, created the need to believe we do.
Human life used to be short and brutal. With our modern health systems, much longer life spans, and other distractions, the need for 'god' has been diminished some.

The only thing I think we can say for sure is that life's main purpose seems to be to perpetuate itself. Take away all the nonsense we create in our daily lives, and it's as simple as that... Life is us, god is life, life is god, we are life, we are...

So what's the probability of your existing? It's the probability of 2 million people getting together – about the population of San Diego – each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. They each roll the dice, and they all come up the exact same number – say, 550,343,279,001.

Everything points to the fact that mathematically we should not exist and therefore we must ask the question, do we?

Originally posted by 11I11

So what's the probability of your existing? It's the probability of 2 million people getting together – about the population of San Diego – each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. They each roll the dice, and they all come up the exact same number – say, 550,343,279,001.

Everything points to the fact that mathematically we should not exist and therefore we must ask the question, do we?

...either that or the theory that it all came about by chance is rubbish.
Mathematicians consider any probability larger than 10^16 to be "absurd"; that is, the likelihood of something at 10^16 occurring is so utterly remote that in real-world conditions, it will never occur.

Given the probability stated in the OP, does it make any sense to think, argue or even consider that this all came about by chance?

reply to post by ANOK


I believe in what you state. I know enough to know That I don't know.
I asked my cousin that was born with fetal alcohol syndrome if he was happy that
his Mother didn't abort him. Now this young man lived in deplorable conditions for the first part of his life.
His answer "If she would of aborted me, I wouldn't be here!! And I like being here!"

reply to post by 11I11


EXCELLENT rebuttal!!
I could see how we could be living in a simulated program like "The Sims"

Originally posted by Awen24
Given the probability stated in the OP, does it make any sense to think, argue or even consider that this all came about by chance?

Given enough time even the slightest possibility will eventually happen.

How much time has there been since well, the beginning of time?

reply to post by Awen24


Given the probability stated in the OP, does it make any sense to think, argue or even consider that this all came about by chance?
One of the theories that I can believe in is "Organized Chaos" it makes some sense to me.

Given enough time even the slightest possibility will eventually happen.
How much time has there been since well, the beginning of time?

I do not believe we are suppose to figure this out....No one really knows.