Something I read recently, which is actually quite eye opening
I cannot vouch for the numbers, but it does come from a pretty decent source.... and if anything else, it is just a good and interesting read.
LET'S START SMALL
What is the probability of your dad meeting your
mom?
Though the world was smaller 20 years ago, your
dad could have met almost 200 million of its women (go dad!)
But over 25 years, he probably met around 10,000
women.
So the odds that your mom was in this small group
and met your dad is: 1 in 20,000
BUT WE KNOW HOW TRICKY LOVE CAN BE.
What is the probability that they stay together
long enough to have kids?
It is a 1 in 10 chance that they talk to each
other.
Also a 1 in 10 chance that they go on a second
date.
Another 1 in 10 chance that they keep dating for a
while.
And a coin toss if they stay together long enough
for offspring.
Thus, the odds that your parents' meeting results
in kids is: 1 in 2,000
So far, the combines odds of you being here are: 1
in 40,000,000
That is about the size of the population of California.
NOW THINGS ARE GOING TO GET PRETTY INTERESTING
Why? Because we are about to deal with eggs and sperm, which come in large numbers.
Mom has about 100,000 eggs in her lifetime.
Dad makes about 4 trillion sperm during the years
you could have been born.
What are the odds that the 1 egg... (Sally)......met the 1 sperm, which together made you(and
not your brother)? (Harry)
1 in 400,000,000,000,000,000 (1 in 400
quadrillion)That is approximately the volume in cubic meters of the Atlantic
Ocean (3,236x10 17 cubic meters).
BUT WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED
Because your existence here, now, and on planet
earth presupposes another supremely unlikely and utterly undeniable chain of
events. 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. You
are a representative of an unbroken lineage of life going back 4 billion years.
What are the odds that your lineage remained
unbroken for the length of human existence?
(You.Aw.)
1 in 2 odds that a child will be born, grow, and
reproduce per generation...
... for 150,000 generations
1 in 10 45,000
That's a 10 with 45,000 zeroes after it.
How large is that number?
That number is not just larger than all the
particles in the universe-it is larger that all the particles in the universe
if each particle were itself a universe.
THAT'S PRETTY BIG, BUT WAIT A MINUTE.
The right sperm also had to meet the right egg for
every single one of those ancestors.
(Weeeee!)
ODDS OF THE RIGHT SPERM, MEETING THE RIGHT EGG 150,000 TIMES?
1 in 10 2,640,000
That is 1 quadrillion multiplied by 1 quadrillion
for every generation.
Let's add it all up
10 2,640,000 x 10 45,000 x 2000 x 20,000= 1 in 10
2,685,000
BY COMPARISON:
The number of atoms in the body of an average male
(80kg. 175 lb) is about: 10 27
The number of atoms making up the earth is about:
10 50
The number of atoms in the known universe is
estimated at: 10 80
THINK OF IT LIKE THIS:
It is 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 with the
exact same number-for example, 550,343,279,001.
SO, THE ODDS THAT YOU EXIST AT ALL ARE:
BASICALLY ZERO.
If for some reason the information doesn't post correctly, please have a look at the website here whe it is laid out quite nicely.