The right sperm also had to meet the right egg to create your grandparents; otherwise theyd be different people and so would their children, who would then have had children who were similar to you but not quite you. It would be your cousin Jethro, and you never really liked him anyway. Or could they be underestimates of the true number? The Zen philosopher, Basho, once wrote, A flute with no holes, is not a flute. This is the probability of you being born at the time you were born to your particular parents, with your particular genetic make-up. Consider some of the contingencies and requirements for your existence as set forth by Mr. Binazir. And the chances of that lasting long enough to result in offspring is one in 2. To say that we are contingent beings is a vast understatement. Multiplying it all together for the sake of completeness (Step 1 x Step 2 x Step 3 x Step 4): Probability of your being born: one in 10. Also follow me on Instagram @RecovHer and visit my RecovHer YouTube Channel for more sober tools and tips. By that definition, I've just proven that you are a miracle. It would be your cousin Jethro, and you never really liked him anyway. Thats a number so huge it hurts to think about it. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. (Just dont blow up your car trying to have the exhaust be blue smoke like I saw on that viral video, or set any forests on fire, lets keep it safe, kids.). The odds of becoming a millionaire in America are between 6.4% to 22.3% according to data from the Federal Reserve Boards Survey of Consumer Finances. This alone should boost any lingering low self-esteem quite a bit. I'm Heidi, I'm a writer, a mama and a sober recovery teacher/mentor. They each roll the dice and they all come up with the exact same number for example, 550,343,279,001. Dr. Ali Binazir. Say that over the course of all human existence, the likelihood of any one human offspring to survive childhood and live to reproductive age and have at least one kid is 50:50 1 in 2. So the combined probability is already around one in 40 million -- long but not insurmountable odds. If you shouldnt even be here, then what is the point of worrying? I would certainly add in (sadly) that there is the possibility of abortion or miscarriage, but even a simple analysis yields an astonishingly small probability. Then, I hope and believe, that He has written my name on the palm of His hand, so whenever He looks at His hand, He thinks of me. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. We were not born by accident given the odds calculated by scientists showing the odds of you being born are at least 1 in 400 trillion IF NOT 1 in 400 quadrillion and most likely 1 in 10.2,640,000. Even with the lowest statistic of 1 in 400 trillion, you would have a better chance of winning over $100 million dollar lottery 9 times over your life again than you would have being born. The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible. That means in every step of your lineage, the probability of the right sperm meeting the right egg such that the exact right ancestor would be created that would end up creating you is one in 400 quadrillion. I was toying with this other idea, about an owl who falls in love with a cat and brings it mice every day. Now go forth and feel and act like the miracle that you are. Step 4. Please pass this post along. Thats a pretty big number, I thought to myself. They each roll the dice and they all come up with. One in 400 trillion vs one in 700 trillion? Its 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. You are, He Will Come Like a Thief to Take Back What Is His, Flee to the Truth When Tempted A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Ash Wednesday Breaks All the Rules of Modern Churchthink. Wowser. They agree to within a factor of two! Think of how strong our ancestors had to be to allow us to eat a sandwich or sing Happy Birthday. Now let's say the chances of them actually talking to one another is one in 10. So, the combined probability is already only about 1 in 40 million. Namely, that every one of your ancestors lived to reproductive age -- going all the way back not just to the first Homo sapiens, first Homo erectus and Homo habilis, but all the way back to the first single-celled organism. By that definition, Ive just shown that you are a miracle, he wrote. The chances of that turning into a long-term relationship is about . In its Final Data report of U.S. deaths for 2010, the CDC reported assault (homicide) dropped off of the list of the 15 leading causes of death, becoming 16th, following pneumonitis due to solids and liquids.. The only know outcome is that you were born to your particular parents. Then what would be the chance of your particular lineage to have remained unbroken for 150,000 generations? So he gave us an analogy that helps: Its the probability of 2.5 million people getting togetherabout the population of San Diegoeach to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. The numbers are getting plenty huge as it is. Previously, I had heard the Buddhist version of the probability of "this precious incarnation." And I note that it is an unladen fly that moves at about 4 mph. If the first shot fall into the black hole, it remains only the red, and not green or blue. If this writer can grasp the concept then any one of those infinite monkeys can. June 5. They each roll the dice and they all come up the exact same number say, 550,343,279,001." What it Took For You to Exist The probability that you came about is the same as that turtle sticking its head out of the water -- into the middle of that life preserver. Step 3. Lets say a life preservers hole is about 80cm in diameter, which would make the area inside, which we will conveniently round to 0.5 square meters. But let's think about this some more. "That's a pretty big number," I thought to myself. He calculated that an average human could expect to experience such an occurrence once every 35 days. First, let us figure out the probability of one turtle sticking its head out of the one life preserver we toss out somewhere in the ocean. I would caution anyone from drawing a religiously-minded conclusion from these probabilities and heres why: While the probability of any one of us existing is very low, the probability that 350 million humans existing in the United States is very high. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. On one try. This includes personalizing content and advertising. : A definitive guide for smart women, How to Get Guys: The 6.5 Dating Phases of Men. A fertile woman has 100,000 viable eggs on average. 530 Lovett Blvd, Houston, TX 77006 +1 (713) 942-9600; pricing strategy of samsung mobile phones. The chances of that turning into another meeting is about 1 in 10. Or, the total number of seconds that have elapsed since the Big Bang is 10x 16 th power. That's 150,000 generations. According to WolframAlpha, the total area of oceans in the world is 341 million km (131.6 million square miles). 3.97 avg rating 549 ratings published 2010 5 editions. Is that an African fly or a European one? Dr. Ali Binazir took it further. The odds of you being born as you are about 1 in 400 trillion, or more. He looked at the amount of water in the oceans, compared to the size of a life-preserver. That number is not just larger than all of the particles in the universe -- it's larger than all the particles in the universe if each particle were itself a universe. So, round-trip time works out to be about 14 yearsfor the fly to go to the moon and back. I gotta say, the two numbers are pretty darn close, for such a far-fetched notion from two completely different sources: old-time Buddhist scholars and present-day scientists., *Illustration of human profile and numbers via Shutterstock, You're one in 400 trillion, or pretty much a miracle. Now things start getting interesting. Probability of every one of your ancestors reproducing successfully: one in 10. Yet here we are. I have one baby so far, but Im still fertile, according to science. In it, she mentioned that scientists calculate the probability of your existing as you, today, at about one in 400 trillion (41014). And whats even more profound is that 10^2,685,00 is not even remotely comparable with eternity. To complete the analysis: (102,640,000) (1045,000) (40,000,000) = 4 x 102,685,007 102,685,000. Then what would be the chance of your particular lineage to have remained unbroken for 150,000 generations? Probability of same boy knocking up same girl: one in 2000. We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. And to get even more woo-woo, I believe we each have a team of ancestors, Spirit Guides and Angels looking after us who love us so much. A fertile woman has 100,000 viable eggs on average. I have over 2,000 posts here & my recovery related blogs are all under the RecovHer category at the top. On my birthday, I had a strangely pertinent thought: what's the probability of being born? Fortunately, just such a person is poised at the keyboard right now, so lets get started. Still, the racial wealth gap continues: Only 11 of them are black. Let's say a life preserver's hole is about 80cm in diameter, which would make the area inside about 0.5 square meter. Or could they be underestimates of the true number? In a recent talk at TEDx San Francisco, Mel Robbins, a riotously funny self-help author, mentioned that scientists estimate the probability of your being born at about one in 400 trillion. Now before you start telling your parents that they could have traded any of your younger siblings for the lottery winnings, your siblings are miracles too! You may quibble with some of the Binazirs assumptions above. First, let us figure out the probability of one turtle sticking its head out of the one life preserver we toss out somewhere in the ocean. So the combined probability is already around 1 in 40 million long but not insurmountable odds. So he gave us an analogy that helps: "It's the probability of 2.5 million people getting togetherabout the population of San Diegoeach to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. The question is, how long will it take for the fly to bring the entire moon back to the earth? Rich E Cunningham from Ontario, Canada on May 14, 2020: Interesting article, guess we are lucky to be here! So let's say the probability of your parents meeting, ever, is 10,000 divided by 200 million, or one in 20,000. His reasoning being that each person experiences an event of some sort every second. As you aptly point out, many persons losts lots of money at the roulette because they quests mathematically accurate. Why? But let's think about this some more. Why? So far, so good. First, let us figure out the probability of one turtle sticking its head out of the one life preserver we toss out somewhere in the ocean. And the chances of that turning into a long-term relationship is also one in 10. Dr Ali Binazir, Contributor Author, Happiness Engineer & Personal Growth consultant creating tools for greater wellness & flourishing Jun 16, 2011, 03:58 PM EDT | Updated Aug 16, 2011 This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. The odds of being murdered are relatively low when compared to other possible causes of death. Author and blogger Dr. Ali Binazir did the calculations last spring and decided that the chances of anyone existing are one in 102,685,000. Its not cheesy to be grateful to be alive, if you look at the facts, it should be normal. You get the volume of planet Earth. Lets confine the pool of possible people they could meet to 1/10 of the worlds population twenty years go (one tenth of 4 billion = 400 million) so it considers not just the population of the US but that of the places they could have visited. Well then, that would be one in 2 , which is about one in 10 -- a number so staggeringly large that my head hurts just writing it down. To be more specific, its probably 1 in 102,640,000. *wink wink* Well, hello thereBom chicka wow wowits: The chance of every one of your ancestors outrunning dinosaurs, disease, war and pestilence to live to reproductive age and reproduce successfully is one in 10. Heres Dr. Ali Binazir on the probability of a human being born: Its the probability of 2.5 million people getting together about the population of San Diego each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. Probability of right sperm meeting right egg: one in 400 quadrillion. Author, Happiness Engineer & Personal Growth consultant creating tools for greater wellness & flourishing. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Each sperm and each egg is genetically unique because of the process of meiosis; you are the result of the fusion of one particular egg with one particular sperm. Say humans or humanoids have been around for about 3 million years, and that a generation is about 20 years. Tip #3 of 20: You are already a goddess, so feel free to act like one. This content is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. Gather your loved ones around and give props to your incredibly resilient and badass survivor ancestors, while you explode your gender revel confetti poppers. The learned Frenchman put a number on it10 to the power of 50, written as 1050in order to impress upon the common herd that its members are not mathematicians. In 1943, the distinguished French mathematician mile Borel developed a law about probabilities that stated events with a sufficiently small probability never occur (Institute of Mathematical Statistics). Thats 150,000 generations. Pretty darn close, for such an unusual calculation. This is also true of their parents, and so on till the beginning of time. He attended the Ted Talk and wrote about it afterward, doing his own calculations on how likely your existence is. So let's say the probability of your parents meeting, ever, is 10,000 divided by 200 million, or one in 20,000. Want to Read. Previously, I had heard the Buddhist version of the probability of this precious incarnation. The odds of red or black are 50:50 with each spin of the wheel. He attended the Ted Talk and wrote about it afterward, doing his own calculations on how likely your existence is. Well, the right sperm also had to meet the right egg to create your grandparents, too. Our babys name creator can help you find a baby at 12 weeks old and unique name for your child. Its like winning a free ticket to the the best party in the world. Namely, that every one of your ancestors lived to reproductive age going all the way back not just to the first Homo sapiens, first Homo erectus and Homo habilis, but all the way back to the first single-celled organism. Every beginning Is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through. Now go forth and feel and act like the miracle that you are., Buddhists have talked of the preciousness of this incarnation. The even better news is that the first one on Tue June 16, which is the Special Session on Joy, is free Continue reading "Brain Yoga: New Sessions" They look like this , or this, and have to be avoided at all costs. He goes further back to look at the probability of all your ancestors successfully mating, and of all the right sperm meeting all the right eggs to make each one of those ancestors. Part of HuffPost Wellness. Are they gross exaggerations? How fast does a laden fly fly? On the Probability of Your Being Born.. Moreover, the second shot would not necessary run into the red.