The fact that you exist is the result of a string of extra ordinarily unlikely events. Each a miracle in their own right.

The miracle of Abiogenesis

For 2 billion years before life evolved from bacteria, there was no life. For 2 billion years there was just bacteria. Then somehow, an incredibly unlikely chemical reaction happened that started the process that we now know as life. By our current understanding, Earth is still the only place in the known universe that this has ever happened.

The miracle that you are part of the species at The apex of evolution

Since abiogenesis happened, and life began to evolve, millions of different species have been created. Estimates put the number of current species on our planet at 8.7 million. This means that of all the species you could have been, you are the one in 8.7 million that has completely mastered their environment and far transcended their native capabilities by using technology and tools.

[I want to revisit this point at some point in the future - Is being "proud to be human" a tautology - are we using human values to claim that humans are superior? It's true that we are dominant. But does that make us better in any meaningful way?]

The miracle of human intelligence

Human intelligence is not "evolutionarily convergent" - i.e. it was not a guarantee once evolution started that intelligence would emerge. Evolution has produced many characteristics independently in different species. For example, wings are present on many species that didn't evolve linearly from each other. But intelligence is only present in one species - humans. That is to say - if you were to remove humans, it is absolutely not a given that intelligence would just evolve. We are lucky to be part of the only species that has ever developed intelligence.

The miracle of the generational sperm/egg matches that created you

What you consider "you" is born from the combination of your parents, their parents before them, theirs before them, and so on... Without every single one of those matches happening exactly as they did, the you that you know never exists.

Context & Sources

• The beginning of infinity part 2

• Human intelligence is not "evolutionarily convergent" - i.e. it was not a guarantee once evolution started that intelligence would emerge. Evolution has produced many characteristics independently in different species. For example, wings are present on many species that didn't evolve linearly from each other. But intelligence is only present in one species - humans. That is to say - if you were to remove humans, it is absolutely not a given that intelligence would just evolve. We are lucky to be part of the only species that has ever developed intelligence.

• Abiogenesis

• The natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter. Prevailing hypothesis - the transition from non-living to living was not a single event, but an evolutionary process of increasing complexity that involved molecular self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and the emergence of cell membranes. Its possible mechanisms are poorly understood.

• The Drake Equation

• "A probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy."

• Number of known species

• "The approach accurately predicted the number of species in several well-studied groups such as mammals, fishes and birds, providing confidence in the method. And the number came out as 8.7 million - plus or minus about a million."

• All Species Evolved From Single Cell, Study Finds

• "All life on Earth evolved from a single-celled organism that lived roughly 3.5 billion years ago, a new study seems to confirm."

• Diamond theory of ancestors

• "The Diamond Theory explains that we can't keep going back through the generations and doubling the number of ancestors in each generation. (That's the inverted pyramid theory). Why not? Because eventually the world's population will not be large enough to support the numbers!"

• How many generations are there?

• "Each generation is about 25 years long"

• Think about it – your existence is utterly astonishing | Aeon Essays