How likely are humans? We are defined by our genetic code—our DNA that contains 3 billion base-pairs. All our DNA is 99.9% the same.
What are the odds of 3 billion randomly arranged base-pairs matching human DNA?
About the same as drawing the A♠ from one billion decks.
More interesting assertions from Dr. Piccioni:
"Modern science has discovered that the conditions necessary for life are extraordinarily improbable. Let’s divide the requirements into four categories, all of which are essential for the existence of life: a viable universe; the right atoms; a habitable environment; and an effective genetic code."
"One of the choices in the creation of the Universe had to be very close to zero for life to be possible. In fact, it must not differ from 0 by more than 1 in the 50th decimal digit.
The odds of that are the same as the odds of drawing one card from each of 29 shuffled decks of playing cards and having each drawn card be the A♠---I wouldn’t bet on it."
"Earth is a wonderful and extraordinarily improbable habitat. We are located at the right distance from the center of a favorable galaxy. Our Solar System formed at the right time, with only a single star that has just the right mass. Earth is protected by a big brother, Jupiter, and our seasons are consistent due to a little sister, our Moon."
What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the universe. - Albert Einstein
"I believe his quandary was: do the laws of nature and mathematics allow the existence of universes quite different from ours?"
(Dr. Piccioni has introduced cutting-edge science to numerous non-scientific audiences, including school children and civic groups. He was guest lecturer on a National Geographic/Lindblad cruise. He has given invited talks at Harvard, Caltech, and Stanford University, and is presently giving an eight-week course on Einstein’s theories at the Osher Institute, an adult education program, at California State University at Channel Islands.
Dr. Piccioni has a B.S. in Physics from Caltech, a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from Stanford University, was a faculty member at Harvard University and did research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in Palo Alto, Calif.
Dr. Piccioni has studied with and done research with numerous Nobel Laureates. At Caltech, one of his professors was Richard Feynman, one of the most famous physicists of the 20th century, and a good family friend. Professor Feynman taught Dr. Piccioni how to play pool, and the Piccioni's taught Feynman how to sail.
Dr. Piccioni was born with physics in his blood. His father, Dr. Oreste Piccioni, was a famous high energy physicist who studied under Enrico Fermi, and won the prestigious Matteucci Medal, which for 140 years has been awarded to many of the world's leading scientists for their fundamental contribution in the progress of science. - i.e. Thomas Edison, Marie & Pierre Currie, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi, among others.)
www.guidetothecosmos.com
