My Two-Cents: Chance

A lot of our day-to-day is made up of chance. You show up 10 minutes late to a function, and you end up sitting in a chair you would not have found if you were 10 minutes earlier. Because of this, you end up sitting next to someone you wouldn’t have met if you hadn’t snoozed your alarm prior. That intersection alters a particular aspect of your life. And remember, that person you sat next to could have shown up 10 minutes earlier too – but they didn’t. That’s chance: an idea that is mathematically perplexing and logically unsound.

From an evolutionary biology perspective, the chance that you exist is due to millions of years of evolution and correct timing and fate – is slim. In fact, Mel Robbins (an infamous Ted Talker) computes the chance of your existence to be 1 in 400 trillion. Virtually zero. And that’s just the probability you're born. So if we assume that the chance that you were born at the exact time you were was already a shot against the numbers – the chance that you made all the right turns, and none into an oncoming lane of traffic, is even slimmer. 

But yet, defying chance, here you are – reading the totally awesome and articulate blog of a girl who is whip-smart and knows all. Something you stumbled upon, or if you are my grandma, something I sent to you and begged you to read! You reading this, along with everything else that has happened to you at one point -- was once a slim un-probable slice out of a whole great big possibility pie. And it happened. And these slim slices continue to happen. What a conundrum!

The idea of chance is quantitative in nature, but seems to require some sort of qualitative explanation since the numbers don't make much sense: the probability of your existence is virtually zero. And your continuing existence persists to defy the odds. So what does it all mean? This is where a whole array of ideas come in. Religion. Life mantras. Paradigms. Passion projects and life missions. These are all great solutions to the chance-enigma. They attempt to answer why are we here and why we continue. But there’s another plasuble solution I think we can accept in an attempt to mentally-combit the chance-enigma: maybe you're here to share your ideas. In a world where nothing makes sense, qualitatively or quantitatively, here we all are, with ideas swarming through our brains. Our brains that are survivors of millions of years of natural selection, fine-tuning, and chance. Our brains that are filled with ideas. Surely, they must account for something! Maybe, the idea that we’re here by chance is reason for us even more to share our ideas. Through conversation – through small talk that isn’t so small. Through pass-by exchanges with strangers and heart-to-hearts with friends. Maybe the way to defy chance is to share our ideas given to us by chance.

Sincerely, 

Kate