What are the chances of YOU existing? A biologist explains | Sean B. Carroll

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Humanity has two giant collisions to thank for its existence, explains biologist Sean B. Carroll.
When an asteroid landed on the Yucatan peninsula 66 million years ago, it turned our planet into a debris field of chemicals that, eventually, fostered human life. Sean B. Carroll, author and esteemed biologist, unpacks the consequences of this collision, and claims we, as a species, should feel fortunate that we’re on this planet at all.
This historical cosmic event, paired with the tectonic movement of Earth’s plates and the initiation of the Ice Age, ultimately led to existence as we know it today. Without these random, chance environmental and biological encounters, the development of life would have been stunted, or even entirely nonexistent.
Even the sequence of human conception is random and unlikely, Carroll explains, leading us to reevaluate our understanding of evolution, true survival, and the significance of each individual life.
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About Sean B Carroll:
Sean B. Carroll is an award-winning scientist, author, educator, and film producer. He is Distinguished University Professor and the Andrew and Mary Balo and NIcholas and Susan Simon Chair of Biology at the University of Maryland, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was formerly Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, and led the Department of Science Education from 2010-2023. He is also Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin.
An internationally-recognized evolutionary biologist, Carroll's laboratory research has centered on the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. In recognition of his scientific contributions, Carroll has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences, been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and elected an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization.

[@bigthink]

Compare coverage and stay informed on breaking news by subscribing through my link ground.news/bigthink to receive 40% off unlimited access through the Vantage subscription.

[@somethingshiny343]

think Financial Audits toxic and abusive. Caleb just posts thumbnails to mock and degrade his guests. He screams and yells at them like a manchild, knows he has vulernable mentally ill guests, and continues to abuse them and make them worse, as well as fostering a community to come attack them and crap all over them. It has RL consequences. Its harmful, he needs to stop. He thinks he is doing good but is causing evil and I'm oncerned people will snap and hurt him and others

[@mikichimiak7326]

hey guys, if history repeated itself and an asteroid wiped out most of life on earth including us humans, would then 60 million years later an other civilized species emerge?;)

[@AminJones]

Yeah? But I thought that it was seed eaters, backed dinos, + mammals, fish,, etc,, but it was the seed eating dinosaur, beaked.

[@TravelParbet]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@LiquidDaylight]

"Lucky" to be here. Depends on who you ask.

[@ReneAlexisPenalozaMunoz]

I've been married to a biologist for over 20 years and I have discovered so many beautiful facts about life.

[@nunomontes2922]

Nobody asked

[@verymuchjojo9090]

@@nunomontes2922but you replied.

[@itskeagan3004]

All of these beautiful things have a design and in turn must have a designer…right?

[@jaketyler2702]

​@@itskeagan3004You can't be that naive, surely.

[@bear_eater254]

You mean theories cause they rarely have facts just theories.

[@mikeyvon23]

Halfway through this video I got an ad for a monster truck ralley, and I thought “wow. And this is what all of that led up to”

[@joyousenoful]

😂😂😂

[@payojaaa]

LMAO

[@Son_of_Bayonetta]

It's such a wild thing to experience this groundbreaking scientific/philosophical information about the nature of our existence only for it to be interrupted by an ad for the Kia summer sales event

[@dream.machine]

​@@Son_of_Bayonetta🤣

[@Scorned405]

The people that are into the monster truck show would not believe this video on science. Lol

[@GreyCrowe]

Two planetary disasters I owe my life... Oh, so you've met my parents.

[@user-lf5uw9nx7h]

And mine. 😂

[@Kc-dq7zj]

😆💀

[@kelsey_roy]

There have been many forks that lead to dead ends. But I wasn’t there to witness it. The fork I’m currently in I can tell you about, because I now exist, thus enabling me to ask the question. 🙋

[@Saritabanana]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHABABAHjahabndjskmahaaaHAAAAA

[@emmanuelweinman9673]

@@kelsey_roywhat the fork

[@Patchy190]

Damn I wanted this to be way longer.

[@northwing3416]

Word

[@Sergio2006A]

That's what she said.

[@the13nth25]

​@@Sergio2006A 😂

[@softjones3128]

buy his book..

[@syamprasaddokka]

After his book read sapiens

[@kingcrack325]

The Universe, the Science and the Scientist reminding me why I should be grateful, everyday. Thank you.

[@ahmedzakikhan7639]

Grateful to who ?

[@kingcrack325]

@@ahmedzakikhan7639 grateful for whoever or whatever created me. The chances of me to likely exist is almost impossible.

[@vblaas246]

​@@ahmedzakikhan7639 To the STANDARD MODEL LAGRANGIAN

[@vblaas246]

​@@ahmedzakikhan7639 To the standard model lagrangian.

[@bolinobis]

No thanks for the Almighty God that started all this?

[@Yutappy99]

It's like my great great great grandfather once said: "Sometimes shit happens."

[@The_Great_Beyond]

wise man

[@user-uz1gf1bc6p]

My great great great grandfather said phuck your great great great grandfather

[@PJVila]

This video prompted more questions than answers: How did the smaller animals survive without sunlight for three decades? In other words, don't smaller mammals /reptiles/amphibians need plants? How did they eat when there was no sun for about 30 years? Most multi-cellular organisms need plants at some level for survival. How or why does rock reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? He mentions that the Himalayas reduced CO2 emissions which in turn created the ice-age. Also, how does an ice-age increase the size of our brains (relative to our bodies)?

[@weltschmerzistofthaufig2440]

The smaller mammals were burrowers, who already spent much time underground. Moreover, plants survived by evolving more resistant seeds and pollen, as well as optimising photosynthesis.

[@SuperMrAndersen]

It was a short summary, would be great to listen all explanations. They of course exist

[@Nobumblegumforyou]

Hint: They don't know, it's a theory.

[@thefamousdjx]

Its a bullshit story. No way a 10km rock creates such total chaos across the whole planet blocking the sun. I just hate this science that guesses things and passes them as fact, preventing others from looking deeper because 'they already figured it out'. A lot of this actually happened in science where people claim they have something already figured out when they dont know shit and made mistakes and complete guesswork during research

[@Bellatrace]

@@Nobumblegumforyou exactly

[@user-fb2kb4wp7s]

I don't know about the whole "we should feel fortunate for being here" part, but even that aside, this video has to be among one of the most eye-popping on the web. We ARE unique.

[@GolAcheron-fc4ug]

I know it seems like we’re not very fortunate because life can suck serious ass sometimes, but keep in mind how much worse a different universe could have been. We could literally have been born in a universe like the nether from minecraft or something where evolution goes in the direction of pure aggression and no mammalian concept of community or compassion or mercy.

[@giovannivelasquez6065]

You should. Drop the ego brother.

[@stuartrussell1394]

A lots of chance never repeated events that have never been, scientifically proven by experiments in a lab. Chance events that defy the laws of physics are called miracles, a lot more faith need to believe in evolution then in a creating outside force the has the power to build a universe that is perfectly aligned for us humans to flourish. One of a thousand things not set as it is, gravity for example and we or any life is hete. Cell complexity and DNA cannot evolve in the manner or time given, 4,5 billion years is not enough for random chance to evole a single protein strand never mind all we see. None life cannot produce life. The chicken came first, a enzyme in its gut is used for egg shell production, only place it is found. A fully formed human or animal is needed to pass on the genetic DNa code. Information doesn't make sense by random chance no does it random improve any set code it only corrupts. Think computer code, randomly insert new bit of code and see what happens. A leap of faith is one thing for Christians but the Grand Canyon leaps for evolution are many in their multitude!

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

@@stuartrussell1394 Biologists - who know far far more about DNA, protein, and life than you do - disagree with you about evolution. Imagine that. Nope, eggs came before chickens. And it's not even close. Chickens were not the first birds to lay eggs; chickens evolved from earlier birds that laid eggs. And those earlier birds that laid eggs evolved from theropod dinosaurs that laid eggs, on so on. Eggs existed hundreds of millions of years before any chickens did. DNA is not computer code, so trying to draw conclusions about DNA based on computer code is invalid. The Grand Canyon supports evolution (and refutes Young Earth Creationism).

[@udoyxyz]

In a nutshell ''You truly are special"

[@geelee1977]

According to math, this is not at all true. According to math, you are nearly guaranteed to occur.

[@aleksmartini4]

@@geelee1977exactly, the initial conditions 😎

[@1SpudderR]

Very difficult to be in a nutshell....? But hey the Universe started with the Whole Universe in a grain of sand by comparison!? And here Endeth the Nutshell paradigms!?

[@jobaermolla911]

Special my butt

[@uvwuvw-ol3fg]

Seems like inherent optimism bias and terror management theory will always help regardless of ideologies such as antinatalism based on consent and efilism.

[@cosmoplakat9549]

Chances are slim to none, and yet at the same time, chances turned out to be 100%.

[@melssf7852]

I know hey. I still am in the "I dont know" phrase of my life. This is amazing and at the same time as much as it is an accident, there is still questions behind questions on how it all came to be before this even began...

[@michaelerickson2596]

Yes!!! Some believe irony is how we came to be! BS

[@anomalousdelirium]

Chances are slim - if we compared Earth to another observable planets. But those other planes are not Earth, so for Earth it was "100%".

[@agnosticpreacher6911]

@@melssf7852think about this, if yo dad busted at a different angle because he banged his hip at work or something, a different sperm would’ve carried different DNA and you maybe would be a very different person I.e. you barely got here, YOU.

[@patbrennan6572]

Great analogy.

[@realkingfitz]

so what you're saying is i'm horribly unlucky

[@grandzeweiterworth7628]

Unfortunately my parents met each other

[@krishp1104]

As a scientific man, I have to ask: at what point does a series of stastically improbable, very lucky and precise accidents become something beyond just dumb luck

[@1SpudderR]

At what point did this randomness start!? I suppose that was random as well!?

[@robertlint697]

EXACTLY!!!!!

[@gwillard19]

Our “luck” was always done other species bad luck. Don’t overthink it. There is not, and never has been, a goal of life.

[@ianlassitter2397]

Who knew Santa Klaus was so knowledgeable about biology and cosmology?

[@touchingsouls795]

What matters is his knowledge and presentation

[@jeffreyjohnson7359]

The chances of me existing are either incomprehensibly infinitesimal or 100%.

[@leroydanny4072]

True and I'd bet on the 100%

[@GwEClanGaming]

Both true in an infinite universe.

[@kermitanderson1596]

That’s the point! Nothing he presented explains whether we exist on purpose or by chance.

[@HelioPopTart]

@@kermitanderson1596there’s the problem in your logic. You think everything is black and white, or binary, when in fact it’s not. He provided plenty of examples, but you are not on the same level of knowledge to comprehend the theory. Therefore, you failed to identify the facts presented upon you and instead externalized your frustration of not coming to a conclusion after watching the video. To me, he was quite clear on the matter, but I am scientifically educated and it took me years to learn the language scientists use. Perhaps start small. It’s not easy to learn another language. It maybe counterintuitive that the language is English, but science is not normal English. It’s medical English, there’s a huge difference. Also, get off this echo chamber. You are subscribing to linear thinking people and unconsciously self aligned yourself to the same ideology. If everyone has the same problem, it’s not the problem, it’s the people refusing to do actual hard work to attain knowledge. Surround yourself with clueless people and do not be surprise to be in the depths of hell on earth. Hey, I might be wrong. But please, prove me wrong. It’s always an opportunity to learn.

[@shkronjax]

They are 100%. I can logically reason it to you.

[@AuronDzilk]

Being "lucky to be here" might just be a bit of an understatement. Mesmerizing video might be one of the best in KZbin.

[@user-pj1yt4rq9o]

Fortunate to be here , really! This crazy hateful world

[@Cheeks63091]

Tell this to a person battling mental illnesses

[@uvwuvw-ol3fg]

Seems like inherent optimism bias and terror management theory will always help regardless of ideologies such as antinatalism based on consent and efilism.

[@Darwin_is_my_copilot]

The OTHER awesome Sean Carroll!

[@timoooo7320]

Oh I was waiting to see Sean Carroll, didn't realize it's a different Sean Carroll 😂

[@SolaceEasy]

Nah, neither.

[@SamoaVsEverybody814]

​@@SolaceEasy Cry harder

[@lovetownsend]

if you took .0 and made it one square inch in size, there isn't enough space in our solar system to show the percentage of you being alive today. It's unfathomably lucky. It's so lucky, luck doesn't even seem the right word to describe it.

[@STR82DVD]

I virtually ran to Play Books to buy your book. Bloody brilliant. 3.5 hours of random goodness. Thank you!

[@TheINFJChannel]

Audiobooks aren't reading. It's listening. Only reading is reading. ❤, An audiobook narrator who still believes in paperbacks

[@STR82DVD]

@@TheINFJChannel You're arguing medium, whereas I really only concern myself with content.

[@ArkenGAMES]

​@@STR82DVD Understandable, however keep in mind that by reading you use more brainpower which in turn benefits you more than just listening. Creating the sound of words in your own head is an extra step.

[@TheCelticsAREboss]

@@ArkenGAMES Nothing wrong with listening to audiobooks if you don't have the time to sit down and focus on reading a book. Also, some people aren't good at reading and easily get distracted. They could be have preference towards echoic learning.

[@ArkenGAMES]

@@TheCelticsAREboss Agreed.

[@eastafrika728]

I would love to hear every other biologists interpretation from professors to students, so that there is no bias.

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

There are tens of thousands of biologists. You'd better get started and better work fast if you want to hear every other one of them.

[@sbaumgartner9848]

It is truly amazing at the very low chance that we were each born. It's too bad most of us don't make enough of this unique life we were gifted.

[@xk8xl]

The ones who have their finger on the red button need to be reminded of this by all these experts

[@alexgoslar4057]

Did it occur to you that the time and space correlation in the universe and for that matter, the multiverse, are entirely different from what we understand time and space to be? All we can measure is what the human mind can perceive, and that is insufficient for getting a better understanding of the universe.

[@martinsapsitis4292]

Looking forward to your book! Enjoy your enthusiasm and analyses.

[@Justin-uc8sc]

Martin can you please call Sarah back she is worried sick

[@frenchpete88]

Puts everything into perspective and... triggers squillions of additional questions! How infinitely lucky I feel to be coming across such an intelligent, enlightening and inspiring speech! Bravo! More of this!

[@altonlebronze3536]

Randomness is an illusion, a perception of a part, rather than the whole...

[@mandelbot5318]

As a few other people have commented, the chance of ME existing is 100%. The question “What are the chances of ME existing?” refers to a specific individual, ME. The question can only be asked, then, if I do, in fact, exist. In a world where I do not exist, no questions can be asked about ME, since those questions would refer to nothing. For this reason, questions regarding the chances of a thing existing cannot be asked of things with specified, unique identities.

[@TorMax9]

It depends on the initial conditions you are aware of and the point in time and your mode of calculation. Yes, you can come up with a probability of a future event. Bookies do it all the time. The probability that you come up with is not OBJECTIVE - because we can never include all the variables - but SUBJECTIVE - only including the variables that we can. Bookies often get it wrong and lose money. Stock brokers often get it wrong and lose money. Generals often get it wrong and lose the battle/war.. Once you do exist, it's 100%. Before you existed, it becomes increasingly small as you go back in time. After the football game has ended, who won is 100%. Before the game, different bookies will come up with different probabilities. Investors gamble all the time. Government programs gamble all the time.

[@FrancescoDAndrea]

The question is about the chances of a new born to have a specific genetic code. Like, "wha are the chances, if we throw 10 dices, to get the combination: 6431524316?" - of course, there are infinite gene codes only if we'll never end as a species - or if life will never end. Otherwise the question makes sense.

[@ronaldmorgan7632]

There are trillions of combinations with the likelihood of none of them ever duplicating. That is what he means. I'm just sad that he would never consider how many things have to go right for there to be a you. The answer is so large that it may have him thinking about something that he doesn't want to.

[@filippetrovic845]

You are stupid 100% all i can say. How could you possibly not understand this?

[@natzcam2219]

"Why we exist?" is a peculiar question because that question was brought about by our own existence!

[@thefamousdjx]

And the fact that you know you exist and there's not much you can do about the fact that eventually after a few thousand days you'll stop existing, gone forever, is super scary.

[@dwidana2574]

Another day another video to think about the meaning of life. Love it.

[@lalalanf2955]

This video made me realize once again how much lucky i am to be here, living. I'm special for the universe like I'm for my parents 😊🙏🏽

[@paulacon28]

He answers how we got here, but why? If the probability of us not existing is much greater than the probability of our existence as we know it, what made the difference? His answer that this is all an accident is too simple for such complex events, it’s an easy way out, another way of saying, “I don’t know”.

[@Rickol91]

I understand your point of view but in some way every event can be both simple and complex at the same time for example: Someone died of a lightningstrike which is rare on its own but anyway .. If the newborn baby of the buss driver didnt cry all night, the bussdriver would have sleep well, he probably didnt fall because of his unknotted shoelaces, the buss was not canceled, The guy didnt had to walk in an open field.. then Boom!! You see what I want to point out?

[@JustennWolfe]

There doesn’t need to be a why. I think people when asking this question forget that we are a floating rock, orbiting 1 of trillions of stars. It’s not like all these crazy things that needed to happen happened so easily. It’s that we are just one of the lucky happy accidents stacked against infant possibilities. That’s why a “why” doesn’t, and likely can’t, be answered.

[@bonnyfasius1216]

I don't think there's a reason. Things that made us don't have brains so I guess all of this just happened it just did. The universe found its balance point and it formed us. I think we're gonna exist anyway. Sorry for my bad English😅😅 I actually have more thoughts but I'm unable to put it into words

[@melissaevans1177]

Makes you think there must be a creator after all. Like a poem has a writer and a painting has a painter it's all evidence of creation and creator

[@DamianSAAAN]

Sounds like you want a specific answer

[@jayski9410]

The thing that first convinced me of life being an accident is just that we're in the only orbit where life is possible. Any closer to the sun and life can't exist yet any further away from it you still get nothing. Then you had to hope that a planet forms in that orbit. And even with that, you had to hope organic chemistry develops. There's just so many ways thing could have gone wrong before you even get to single celled organisms.

[@leroydanny4072]

Life isn't an accident tho I admit there is so much we don't know about ourselves

[@geelee1977]

You should not be convinced. "What are the chances of YOU existing" --> Nearly a 100% guarantee of it happening. If you have a 1/1000000000000 chance of a dice roll happening, but, you have 1/1000000000000000000000 rolls to make, then you can nearly guarantee that the "rare chance" roll, will definitely happen.

[@Jacob-ed1bl]

​@leroydanny4072 You literally have zero evidence or proof as to make the claim "life isn't an accident." You're correct about one thing, there's much we don't know but that doesn't change the fact this is a random accident.

[@prasadpatil8507]

i think universe is pre determined

[@malayneum]

so why should single celled organism exist? it shouldnt exist at the first place. they have no business here.

[@pip915]

We exist to keep nature alive ❤

[@manelumi3985]

But we keep killing it

[@mRibbons]

I dated someone who vehemently denied the existence of dinosaurs. Sadly, I couldn't let it go and leave it be.

[@sumirsookdeo9443]

Well explained. Great lecture.

[@FranzVonZeta]

This is like rolling 100 dice and after seeing the result saying: omg, it was sooo unlikely that this exact combination happened!! What were the chances?? We are so lucky!! Meanwhile, in some parallel universe, some intelligent reptilian called Sean Barney Carroll: "If the asteroid had entered half an hour earlier and hit, for example, in the Yucatan, well, we wouldn't be here anymore, and we wouldn't be having this conversation, so that's one thing that had to go right, and, yeah, many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, so I think we should feel fortunate that we are here".

[@geelee1977]

If you roll 100 dice 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 times, you'll see EVERY combination guaranteed. The universe has made that many rolls, or more.

[@FranzVonZeta]

@@geelee1977 if you're lucky, yes

[@geelee1977]

@@FranzVonZeta Incorrect, it is a literal guarantee, because math & set theory.

[@FranzVonZeta]

​@@geelee1977 Nope, you got that wrong I wonder where you got that number from though

[@nycest14u2nv]

Aliens were responsible for that “asteroid” and that made way for humans to be seeded on earth and prosper

[@glaurunga8875]

Fascinating concept to think of. A Series of Fortune Events was an excellent book on the real improbability of us existing, yet we do. Which renders the life we have invaluably priceless.

[@carpballet]

What are the chances of me existing? 100% Same with you Somebody that’s not conceived yet? Impossible to calculate.

[@The_Great_Beyond]

If I woudn 't exist, I also wouldn 't be able to wonder about existing...

[@filippetrovic845]

You non existing is so real you dont even grasp how real it is. Existing in comparaison is so rare that its almost impossible. FYI you will die one day so you wont be able to wonder about existance anymore so be quick to apreciate this opportunity.

[@carlosenriquegonzalez-isla6523]

Beautifully explained!

[@bestill365]

His explanation was all by accident.

[@TattooedGranny]

Thank you! This was so informative.

[@tunglam5113]

thanks for sharing

[@whatcouldgowrong7914]

How could anyone honestly think that the infinite number of variables that had to happen in an exact way, one after another, at all scales from atoms up to universe could possibly be an “accident”. The universe is unfolding exactly as it was always intended to and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

[@filippetrovic845]

Then atleast admit that we have no free will at all. So accept us that think otherwise, we just cant help it.

[@whatcouldgowrong7914]

@@filippetrovic845 I never said we had free will… I do believe free will has a part in this at higher levels but not in this life itself…

[@JLChristopher]

I love this. Thank you.

[@Lifeistooshort67]

I, "We" really shouldn't be here. Truly embrace every single minute. It's not always easy to remember that when life gets in the way of "LIFE!!!"

[@xoejy5]

Buddhism and Taoism were some of the earliest schools of philosophy that highlighted this. It took such a long time for westerners to tune to the same direction. I am a big believer of destiny. Even the probability of us not yet destroyed is too infinitesimally impossible.

[@kariannecrysler640]

Wonderful information 💕

[@SlappyGomez]

Things have happened, are happening, & will happen exactly as have, are, & will.

[@Earthtime3978]

But why?

[@linli6012]

There will never ever be anyone like you,ever again on the planet or ever before.❤

[@maxxbenzz7842]

That's good for humanity that there's only one of me.

[@nickrajotte6802]

Would be fitting if the video was 11:11

[@frankiecal3186]

Yup Accidents.😒

[@xk8xl]

It’s shocking that the ones with their finger on the red button don’t get this.

[@wasifmondal7978]

We are what we are today, it's not just because of 1 or 2 or 10 factors went in the right direction...it's because million of things went in to work together, the balance and everything that is there to sustain life on earth is simply increable. For me the probability of all the things working together and everything being so much precious accurate it's out of probability... imagine buying 1000 lotary tickets and getting a jackpot on all of them, sounds impossible for probability, right? Well over here we are talking about millions of jackpots... It's almost feels like everything is just pre-planned. It feels like to me everything is controlled by someone out there... because not only on earth but even in universe there are things that exists because billions of factors went in the exact right direction and at the right time to form it which is out of question for that to happen my misunderstanding. I don't know why every minute I think about it it comes down to one point... we are created by that power out there, one that controls the whole universe... Now these are my thoughts... and who am I? Nobody...

[@redem75]

Agreed, it's not rationale to put faith in random happenstance. Something isn't created from nothing. There was a start and beginning to everything, the debate is what or who had intent and implemented the beginning of all things.

[@ndrew5809]

if the meteor didn’t hit how would’ve the dinosaurs evolved now

[@livelyp]

this was posted on my birthday wow❤

[@mikesercanto9149]

What are the chances?😊

[@Earthtime3978]

And 1.5 billion other individuals birthdays .

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

@@Earthtime3978 1/6 of all people on Earth were born on the same day?

[@Earthtime3978]

@@TonyTigerTonyTiger A very high percentage, not exactly that amount. Picked a fun number.

[@JT-vt5kk]

It is all very miraculous. He makes a good point about religion claiming it all has meaning, which is just an interpretation. Then he proceeds to do the same thing, claiming it is all just an accident. Scientists claiming existence is random is as much a leap of faith as any religious dogma. No proof either way. I find it bizarre that a number of outspoken scientists are so arrogant and/or unself-aware in their claims to some sort of ultimate knowledge. I do love his sense of wonder. That is the essential thing. Stay in your damn lane!

[@Suchness_of_Life]

Be consciously grateful for being alive. The meaning of life is just to be alive. It’s so plain, so obvious and so simple. - AW

[@dk6024]

Does it even make sense to talk about being lucky to have been born?

[@lexreason258]

YES!!! This perspective is necessary, in order to be grateful and hopefully live better lives.

[@LordBrittish]

Being grateful to be alive is a much better ideology than believing the world revolves around you. (not YOU)

[@readynowforever3676]

@@LordBrittish I don't disagree with your premise, I actually live to personify it. But that doesn't discourage me to challenge it. Why, out of all the species that have ever existed, is it especially useful for ours to be "grateful" ?

[@readynowforever3676]

@@lexreason258 I'd be interested in hearing your perspective on that inquire as well (?)

[@lexreason258]

@@readynowforever3676 Because the contrary to gratitud is entitlement. And with entitlement comes thinking you are better, superior and more deserving than others. The myth of meritocracy. (That doesn't mean we should not value or recognize hard work, it goes deeper) And we all know how that has turned out in our history. Heck! Is happening right now and we are closer to WW3 because of it.

[@gravestone4840]

The very moment that every particle popped into existence and spun off on their trajectories was the moment that everything that is came into being. We can take note of individual events along the path that lead to us but we would run out of numbers before we named even a fraction. Whatever the root cause of reality or even if there is no root cause, every event in every moment was the result of the events and moments that preceeded it, the stage was set and always was. We were inevitable.

[@EricSable]

👏🏼👏🏼 damn

[@squakke]

Exactly. The chances of us existing is 100%.

[@kelleycavan6911]

Just finished reading Chaos by James Gleick and it shows that nothing is inevitable

[@TheDimitrios]

You know what is inevitable, Arsenal winning the league, come on you Gunners!.

[@majoman7713]

That would make life deterministic and will result in having no free-will. I believe free will is the essential part of consciencious so this theory wouldnt hold up.

[@amusicment4829]

Wow!! Absolutely brilliant video, thank you - will get the book A Series of Fortunate Events , thank you!

[@lesliep7727]

This was a mind blowing and beautiful video. I especially loved how he equated the astroid that hit the yucatan with the reproduction of human life. Just beautifully crafted. ❤

[@joelharris4399]

Life is like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of calamities🔥 and desolation

[@LordBrittish]

So you’ve been married, huh?

[@muhammedsaidcakir]

In order for the things to collide, they need to exist in the first place. If they exist, which they do then they must be coming from a source, since existence only can come from an existing being. So accepting the existence necessitates accepting a source of existence. It does not make sense to refer the existence to a concept that does not exist-like accident. There is existence not accident nor chance. So the existence of a source of this universe is more certain then the existence of the universe.

[@ernieestrada5774]

yes, using "accident" as a reason stops all reasoning.

[@johnhulshoff4794]

Totally agree with your final sentence. And that "source" is God.

[@Conics22]

@@johnhulshoff4794 Yes we know. Some people who were uneducated wrote all about god and magic and what not. The other 17999 gods are man made and false. But the one you believe in is real. Why? Because you think so.

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

Well, that was a load krap masquerading as wisdom.

[@minorthrFPV]

@@johnhulshoff4794 and which god is that?

[@maSHEALY]

Mankind = one roll of the dice

[@foispar161]

当他说道幸运，它是对现状的一种肯定，一种满意，一种知足，一种对于神的崇拜和命运的敬畏

[@neo26]

4:47 Wow!! DID NOT know that...and i randomly watched this. Thanks for that info. Hope humanity realizes that existence is a miracle and live in peace. Unlikely to happen but still..

[@prasadpatil8507]

There are no accidents. -Master Oogway

[@kevinwhite7647]

Solid reference

[@digitaltabseer]

“Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the Earth were a joined entity, and we separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” [21:30]

[@Tonyv1951]

The point you made at about minute 8 about our individuality, is one that I have often thought about, but just to put the 1:70 trillion chance that you and I were born, into perspective, that is nothing when you consider that this is true for EVERY individual of our ancestor line, going back millions of years. You and I would never have existed, if any of those ancestors had mated on a different day. How many productive, chance sexual encounters happened in your ancestry line that allowed you to exist? The numbers are beyond mind boggling. The chances that you and I emerged are infinitesimally small. If anything had been different, it would be someone else sitting in your chair. Even if a single different sperm had fertilised your egg or any of the eggs in your ancestry, YOUR consciousness would never have arisen and the person in that chair would be as different from you as your brother or sister.

[@Friendly_T_Girl]

This just brings me right back to the song "The greatest show on earth" by Nightwish which has this spoken section in it "We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place, but who will in fact never see the light of day, outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this. Because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA So massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of those stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds. How dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state From which the vast majority have never stirred?"

[@ckm2184]

This was f***ing great

[@benmcreynolds8581]

It's crazy how much of a random factor Time plays in.. It dictated where these asteroids hit.. It's such a crazy thing to think about

[@VietTran-xl2ms]

100%. Everything that could possibly exist has 100% of existing sooner or later. Only things that have no chance of existing will never ever arise because of the nature of impossibility itself.

[@catatonicbug7522]

Just because the chances of my existence are slim doesn't automatically mean I'm lucky or have anything to be grateful for. I just have to suffer through my existence, and eventually I'll die, just like all other life.

[@CallingAllMadMen]

Right?! Like I want to be here with all these a-holes.

[@keilder8543]

So time flies, you're only here once... make the most of it

[@BritonAD]

Hopefully there is something better after this. Yes, we didn't ask to be here.😝😝

[@ilona5746]

We didn’t ask for it, but might as well make the most out of it

[@danielclearer8026]

Yeah I dont wanna be here either fuck this world fuck my parents for having sex fuck it

[@VietTran-xl2ms]

The fact that we exist is evidence that all possible potential realities already exist, especially if you are the type of person that thinks our existence is infinitesimally tiny mathematically.

[@paulrussell9632]

Everett's many world's theory predicts other realities. You existing is not proof enough of anything other than that you exist.

[@jamesstrom6991]

It’s a universe that grows people.

[@SpiritintheSky.]

How fascinating, refreshing and thought-provoking! Thank you very much

[@jpmalopes]

Wonder why people do not perform this very same exercise but for any other creature living? Bacteria, yeasts, trees, insects, birds... They're no different from us in the existence sense. Probably we all have consciences. Not sure about bacteria, but creatures with a brain, for sure. They simply cannot verbalize this to us. What makes us so special after all?

[@CallingAllMadMen]

Because we are able to abstract think. And we can build skyscrapers.

[@spuriusscapula4829]

Religious creationists going nuts in the comments. It's so hard for them to learn and read.

[@space1commander]

Beautifully explained. I feel much smarter and important now.

[@rupestrevideo]

Great. Thank you very much for this awesome content.

[@HakuCell]

incredible. the asteroid had to hit earth at the right time and place, in order for us to emerge. it's like a prophecy come true.

[@marcioamaral7511]

Except prophecies didn't even exist

[@edwardlee9817]

Considering how old the universe is, it’s merely a statistical probability.

[@DanFedMusic]

Atheists don't wanna hear that…

[@hope1416]

We know who made sure that it all happened at the right time and place.

[@lm4836]

​@@hope1416Who ? Luke Skywalker ? Did he cause the asteroid ?

[@MiguelQUECAMINA]

And this is why... we should ALL celebrate LIFE!

[@steelearmstrong9616]

Yep. In the end nothing matters. We are all on the same sinking boat that inevitably ends in tragedy. We will all be pain free very soon

[@MiguelQUECAMINA]

@@steelearmstrong9616 ohh someone woke up a bit catastrophic this morning....... And maybe you are right, but in the meanwhile, we can still enjoy and celebrate life!

[@steelearmstrong9616]

@@MiguelQUECAMINA ☠

[@maximilian9295]

That was beautiful. Thank you🙂

[@danieljames4050]

Somewhere in the distant future, there will be a species on earth digging up our skeletons and wondering what the hell we were, why did we go extinct, and how thankful they are that we did because it led to their existence.

[@geelee1977]

"What are the chances of YOU existing" --> Nearly a 100% guarantee of it happening. If you have a 1/1000000000000 chance of a dice roll happening, but, you have 1000000000000000000000 rolls to make, then you can nearly guarantee that the "rare chance" roll, will definitely happen.

[@joaopossa7661]

Who/what defines chance? It's like "Give me a free miracle(chance) that I explain everything else. An inteligent effect must have a inteligent cause. time by itself is incapable of creating order from disorder.

[@filippetrovic845]

Its not 1/100000000000, more like 1/[number with quintillion zeroes] and you had only one chance (forming of universe). If you were born in another galaxy or born on Earth to other parents or same parents but other sperm won the race you still wouldnt be exact same you. We can only talk about odds of this exact version of you because anything more is too abstract. If you want to push this story of how we are common then i ask you to find a intelligent extraterriestrial being or even on earth for its first 98% of life until today. Even if we find some aliens (or they find us) it wont disprove the fact that life is the rarest form of substance in the Universe.

[@humacunra]

People are so quick to believe this because it sounds so interesting but ignore the fact that this are theories and we don’t really know.

[@theyomie5482]

Well first of all you must understand that the word theory in normal speak is much different than in science. In science our normal speak for theory is called a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a hunch, like what we all have daily, and a theory is a more scientific fact that has been substantiated by dozens of other people to prove that it is, in fact, correct. Now can that be subject to change if new information is discovered? Yes, but the core truth is still intact. Never before has a theory been completely erased once discovered, but new facts are found all the time, adding to it. It would be like if electricity or evolution turned out to be wrong. it just can’t happen because way too much evidence has been millions of times over substantiated by thousands of different human beings from all over the world.

[@bluesky-rb8fn]

We are just the babies of the universe!!! We need to grow up!

[@jamesmcinnis208]

That was concise and interesting. I could have done without the nerve-wracking music.

[@mdwoods100]

No one knows how or why we are here. It's all speculation. Some ideas are better than others, but no one really knows the truth.

[@lorenzogumier7646]

Noone knows WHY, however, science is working and making good progresses in explaining HOW the process worked out. That's not speculation is rather evidence based

[@tonypowder3506]

​@@lorenzogumier7646i agree

[@WhatHow111]

How? : The answer doesn't matter much. Why? : No reason at all. Life is just an accident as explained in this video. So it's better to live right and die easy.

[@salmankayani8095]

But the question is how life started from nonliving things and what about consciousness? we can explain the materials but unfortunately, there is no clear evidence of where life and consciousness come to make our material body evolve according to time needs. we can easily understand how we are born but how and who gives soul and consciousness to a body and the only answer is that there is a creator for all these.

[@thefamousdjx]

I hate when they pretend evolution is the answer to everything instead of admitting they dont know anything! They talk as if they all come to that same conclusion but no its driven by the same text books written by clueless people that made a lot of guesswork and passed it as fact

[@shawnstatzer95]

It is natural for people's brains to fill-in-the-blanks for missing information. It is often expressed via survival and can be tested and retested ending with consistent results. It is far better to not conclude anything without sufficient evidence and to just say "I do not know." Certainly, there is nothing inheritly wrong with searching for answers and throwing out some possibility, but to label things as facts when the facts are not known, is putting the cart before the horse.

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

Since humans don't have souls, your last part was meaningless

[@victoriadepew6863]

There is no evidence for a "soul". It's a philosophical concept not a biological one. As for consciousness I think that to we overstate. Consciousness is likely an illusion of our brain that evolved over time. We weren't magically bestowed with it. Life starting at all... well that does seem to be rare and hard.... but there is also a whole lot of stuff out there .

[@payojaaa]

this was SOO fascinating!! especially the 1 in 70 TRILLION CHANCE!!!

[@baarons93]

My fave BT gratitude vid ever 🥺🙏🏽

[@MaxRenke]

that's not Sean Carroll...

[@james-cal]

there’s two of them. he (theoretical physicist) has has this guy (biologist) on his podcast i’m pretty sure.

[@VictorBrunko]

Both good speakers. Phisicist IMHO is better

[@tchaivorakfauresohnsieg9532]

He's B, other one is M

[@fromthefrunchroom]

Ur not Sean Carrol

[@steveh6612]

But why am I here

[@user-it8uz6zn9l]

Describing all these amazing events as coincidences is a myth Mathematics does not like coincidence at all. The world began in a state of amazing entropy How could a zero information state suddenly produce a highly order information state without the personal intervention of an intelligent Creator?

[@Pepe-mv1ir]

then you can go a step further and ask,"how was the intelligent creator capable of creating such complex creation created" and so and so on..

[@93CRAZY93]

Why zero information state? The information was there, it was just put together in a certain way that allowed us to exist, which easily couldve been an accident in an infinite frame of space and time

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

You don't explain anything by calling upon a magical being.

[@osmotreno]

And this is just an extremely small part of all the accidents that had to happen for the emergence of human civilization. For example, our galaxy had to be far away from others so as not to collide with them, our solar system had to be in the right part of the galaxy, the Sun had to be so unusually calm, the Earth had to be in the habitable zone and collide with another planet below a certain angle to create the Moon, to stabilize the axis of rotation, the formation of tectonic plates and a strong magnetic shield. We are enormously lucky, but we don’t appreciate this at all and are heading towards our own destruction.

[@filippetrovic845]

Exactly what i was thinking when he started from 66M years ago. I was like “wait it started 14B years ago, and was surely eventful regularly”. BTW im shocked how many people are completely ignorant on this videos comment thread.

[@oneeyedjack8525]

So by the time we figure it all out something else will change

[@raymondtendau2749]

Life has no ultimate meaning. Don't look for it, you won't find it. Key word here is ultimate.

[@gavinterrell5894]

Revelation 22:13 - "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

[@ncedwards1234]

@@gavinterrell5894 i was drunk when i wrote that to be fair

[@kabirtalpur6355]

How can the accidents be that precisely accurate 😮 There might be someone out there to make that happen

[@evasco1979]

That's exactly what I thought... and concluded that they were not accidents 😁

[@AngelZamorano-ug9jx]

Yes it’s so obvious that none of this happened by random chance! That’s crazy that like rolling a dice for many times and getting the same number! Obviously there had to be an Intelligent Creator to have created all life and designed all things precisely.

[@pascalonyango2427]

​@@AngelZamorano-ug9jxif there was a creator, then he's not intelligent with all these evil, suffering, natural disasters in floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, neaonatal and infants deaths as well as diseases, not forgetting animal suffering and the fact that living things must kill each other for food and survival

[@AngelZamorano-ug9jx]

@@pascalonyango2427 evil is a problem we made not God. God gave you and me a conscience and freewill to do anything. I can go outside and walk on the sidewalk and punch people in the face that’s my choice and my problem my evil not God. And in the same way I have the choice to do evil I can do good. I have the choice to go outside and feed the homeless and help people in need as well. That’s something God allows me to do why don’t you look at that part. I understand that the world is evil and a lot of people do bad things but trust me there is a lot of good and love in the world. You shouldn’t just be looking at the bad news you see on tv there is a lot of goodness and peace in life. Don’t just look at the evil and bad look at the good and positive that God allows to. There is more good than bad trust me. We’re not perfect but we have a moral responsibility that God made us with, but we should try to go beyond that moral responsibility and be better people. If we didn’t have a choice we’ll be robots and there won’t be no point to life. There is no good without evil, no light without darkness.And if everything was good and we lived in perfect harmony, no evil, no suffering, no pain, no bad, then we wouldn’t grow and learn. There has to be pain to have a change. And that’s why God allows evil to happen so that we can learn from it and be better. God uses evil for a better good and purpose. Challenges and pain is what makes our life interesting and teaches us from our mistakes.

[@AngelZamorano-ug9jx]

@@pascalonyango2427 I also forgot to mention that this life is a test from God look at it that way all the things you mentioned are ways God tests is to see if care and we want to help others. And also remember that we aren’t immortal we are all going to die so God took those people like that and remember that some people in the natural disasters could’ve been a evil person who was going to do something evil you never know. And the babies and children you may ask? Well their angels and God takes their spirit to be with him resting in paradise. God spares them so they dont have to go through this life and they go to heaven with him! We have a lot of questions but remember God sees the bigger picture he’s above it all we aren’t. We’re finite he’s infinite we can’t fathom what he does.

[@jethrobodineus]

OMG! Thank you for saying this! I know many many biologists, scientists and geneticist preach the same facts about how fortunate each living organism is to exist on this planet”third rock from the sun”! That’s why I cannot for the life of me comprehend all the senseless killings/murders that happen on this planet!!!!! The individual truly is a biological wonder!! There is only one of you!!!!!!!! Appreciate life! Death, will come,e soon enough 😊

[@miralovelovos]

Everything makes absolute sense when one is humble enough to recognize we aren't more special than an octopus or a chimpance