Why AM I So Unique?
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The Things Behind Why You Are Unique
If you are wondering how to answer the question "How do I Know I Am Unique?" ... it all starts with understanding the things that make you unique, and then looking at how rare that combination is ... in the universe and on planet Earth.
What makes you unique ... what describes you and no one else ... are your gifts and talents ... and the things that you love. Summed up in a description of your bliss, this list describes you and only you.
The Basic Assumptions
Below are the assumptions you need to make and a step-by-step calculation of numerical uniqueness.
I assume there is no correlation between gifts. Being able to hit "high C" when you sing makes you no more or less likely to be able to sense when the weather is going to change, have a knack for carving ice sculptures, or being able to bake the perfect lasagna.
Some of the gifts do seem to be correlated to the activities and things a person loves, but there is such a large pool of these items to choose from that I think they are not significant enough to take into account. Just think ... someone can hit "high C" and may love music ... but think of all the types of music there are out there to love. My guess is that there are at least 100 different forms (from Reggae and Hip hop to Baroque, Elizabethan, Two Step Garage, Fusion, Acid Rock, Techno, Swing, Big Band, Cajun, and Bach ... just 2 name a few).
An Equation of Uniqueness
This calculation is based on a description of what makes you unique. To describe that, I create a unique list of the things you love (the people, places, experiences, activities and physical objects) that are unique to your personality along with a list of your innate gifts and talents.
That list has from 50 to 100 items on it ... on average (see samples). Since the gifts and talents are the most visible on the list, I decided to start the calculations based on having 5 to 10 of them.
Just Your Gifts & Talents
To be a gift or talent, a skill has to have a rarity of 1/100, which means that only 1% of the population has it. More common skills are abilities many or most people have, like being able to ride a bike or read a newspaper.
Gifts and talents can be even more rare, such as ...
- 1 out of 1000 (only one person in a college dorm has this talent)
- 1 out of 10,000 (only one person in a football stadium or at a concert has this talent)
- 1 out of 1,000,000 (which means only 308 other people in US and 6,799 people in the world have that same talent)
But let's start with the minimum scenario ... a person has only 5 gifts and they are at the lowest rarity level to be considered a gift or talent (1 out of 100). *
Rarity ( 5 at 1/100 each)
= 1/100 *1/100 * 1/100 *1/100 *1/100
= 1 /(100*100*100*100*100)
= 1 / 10,000,000,000
= 1 / 10 Billion
That means that with just 5 gifts and talents at the lowest level, you are already one out of 10 Billion. Since the world population right now is about 7 Billion -- you are unique on the planet.
A Minimum Uniqueness Definition
But that is just the first 5 items in the definition. What about taking into account the other 45 items in the definition? If each was at the lowest level (only 1% of the population loved that same place, activity, experience or physical object) ... how rare would that make you?
Well ....
Rarity ( 50 at 1/100 each)
= 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100 * 1/100* 1/100 * 1/100 *
1/100
= 1 /(100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*
100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*
100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*
100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*
100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100*100* )
= 1 / 1 x E100
= 1 / 1 Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-
Trillion-Million
which is the same as 1 / Googol (the number of years
a super massive black hole would take to evaporate ... give or take, depending on how well you knew the
black w.hole)
Having a list that describes you (what you personally love and what you excel at) that has a calculated rarity of 1 out of a 10 Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Trillion-Million ... not only makes you unique on this planet ... but maybe in the universe.
And we are only talking about the minimum defining list -- the smallest number of items at the lowest rarity level. If you had a one-in-a-million talent and loved a few things that were pretty out of the ordinary (say the only one on a football stadium full of people) ... your number would be even higher. So too, if you had a description that had more items on it.
If indeed ... you are unique as One out of trillions and trillions ... you are as rare as a snowflake ... and that explains why there will only be one Beethoven, one Michelangelo, one Churchill, one Da Vinci, one Gandhi -- and only one YOU.
