Thought for the day: Miracle: (n) That which happens in spite of astronomical odds.
Today I'm mostly going to be expounding on the Thought; not a lot else to say tonight, but the Thought got me thinking. I'm still watching Baccano! by the by, and it's holding up magnificently. It's in the same 'verse, I learn, as Durarara!, which is another favorite of mine. At this rate I'll have to read the light novels, since both series posses only a single season in their anime formats. Baccano!, I learn, whilst having stunning reviews here in the West, did abysmally at home. Which just goes to show, I suppose. WHAT it goes to show I have no idea, but show it does.
Where was I? Oh, right, the thought.
I mention the thought because the Powerball Jackpot is currently astoundingly high, and I intend to buy a ticket tomorrow when I go to play DnD(it having been rescheduled to account for Christmas Sunday).
Yes, most of the people who buy a lottery ticket are going to loose, but SOMEONE won't. It won't be you, probably, but then again, it might. Yes, I'm aware of the unbelievably long odds, and that it's probably a dollar down the drain, but I've got a few extra dollars this year.
On top of which, the odds that I was born at all are immensely astronomical. Here's a page that calculates the odds of you being conceived, in an extremely conservative manner, ie. only counting the odds of your production on your father's side; counting your mothers side would, as the site notes, make you EVEN MORE unlikely. And here's a different calculation, which not only includes your maternal lineage, but the possibility that your father and mother even met, let alone had kids.
My point, long belabored though it is, is essentially Solo's Theory of Success.
Today I'm mostly going to be expounding on the Thought; not a lot else to say tonight, but the Thought got me thinking. I'm still watching Baccano! by the by, and it's holding up magnificently. It's in the same 'verse, I learn, as Durarara!, which is another favorite of mine. At this rate I'll have to read the light novels, since both series posses only a single season in their anime formats. Baccano!, I learn, whilst having stunning reviews here in the West, did abysmally at home. Which just goes to show, I suppose. WHAT it goes to show I have no idea, but show it does.
Where was I? Oh, right, the thought.
I mention the thought because the Powerball Jackpot is currently astoundingly high, and I intend to buy a ticket tomorrow when I go to play DnD(it having been rescheduled to account for Christmas Sunday).
Yes, most of the people who buy a lottery ticket are going to loose, but SOMEONE won't. It won't be you, probably, but then again, it might. Yes, I'm aware of the unbelievably long odds, and that it's probably a dollar down the drain, but I've got a few extra dollars this year.
On top of which, the odds that I was born at all are immensely astronomical. Here's a page that calculates the odds of you being conceived, in an extremely conservative manner, ie. only counting the odds of your production on your father's side; counting your mothers side would, as the site notes, make you EVEN MORE unlikely. And here's a different calculation, which not only includes your maternal lineage, but the possibility that your father and mother even met, let alone had kids.
My point, long belabored though it is, is essentially Solo's Theory of Success.
That infographic never made sense to me - the odds for *anything* existing are astronomical, so much so that the word loses any inherent meaning :/ The odds of me making a specific casserole may as well have the same odds. That doesn't really make it a miracle. Taken the other way, if you bring quantum mechanics into it, then any incarnation of you will happen eventually and thus the odds of your eventual existence are 100%.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to diminish the point or anything, I guess have have trouble with mathematically trying to justify something with infinite possibilities XD Which just brings me to the obvious thing to quote: "There is no universe where Sam Vimes as he is now, killed his wife." :P Your potentiality is much more intriguing than your origin story if you ask me :D
My eventual rambly point being, whether in this universe or some other, there's a future where Bill Eldridge won the lottery. The lucky bastard.
Actually, the statement on infinity *is not true*, fun fact; it's possible that, in the entirety of infinity, a thing may happen and then never happen again, or never happen at all. Guy named Georg Simmel proved it:
ReplyDelete"Suppose there were three wheels of equal size, rotating on the same axis, one point marked on the circumference of each wheel, and these three points lined up in one straight line. If the second wheel rotated twice as fast as the first, and if the speed of the third wheel was 1/π of the speed of the first, the initial line-up would never recur."
True facts.
That's AFTER lining it up and adjusting the speeds in such a way that it COULDN'T occur though. Deliberate human interference in other words, becuase humans like being contrary and giving the universe the finger :P The examples we've been talking about have been pure chance, no (deliberate) interference with how the course of events go. Big difference there I think.
ReplyDelete