Mathematical Certainty

I am not a mathematician, although I did get a "B" in my Algebra class in community college. Not bragging, just putting that out there. I was driving into Santa Monica to meet an old friend for lunch. Facebook is a marvelous thing, bringing together long lost friends. Another topic for another day. I caught a blurb on NPR radio that stuck in my head. If there are approximately 7 billion people on the planet, what are the chances that the person you are with is "The One". No, not the spoon bending, bullet dogging, Matrix "The One" but the person you are destined to spend the rest of your life with, the person who "gets us", a perfect match.... dare I say it your... soul mate. I have never gone online to find a date, but if I did I would insist there be a soul mate check box, so I could eliminate anyone who even slightly has the expectation of finding this mythical unicorn with whom their soul interlocks. Such lofty expectations are sure to cause disappointment with the searcher.

The phrase that caused this NPR blurb to stick in my head was the last sentence. If the odds of finding the one are 1 in 6.7 billion then "why bother." Before I address that pessimistic thought lets adjust the odds and put them into perspective. Assuming you are homosexual or heterosexual you can cut you odds in half. Bisexuals are twice as unlikely to find true love, and really they need two people so their odds are off the chart anyway. For the rest of us, according to the CIA fact book, 27% of the worlds population is under 15 years old. I know realistically we should be use at least 18, but these are just rough estimates anyway. Conjuring up my extensive math skills (see previously listed mathematical credentials) half of 6.7 billion, multiplied by 73% roughly equals 2.4 billion. If you believe that there is one and only one person out there for you, reaching your "soul mate" is a 1 in 2.4 billion proposition. And that would assume that all things are equal, that your "the one" is on the same continent as you, speaks the same language and is not a Raider fan. If your "the one" is, lets say, in India and you live in the US, I've run out of math skills, but I would bet your odds just went up.

Lets put this into perspective. According to the web site www.reason.com, your chances of getting killed by an asteroid is 1 in 200,000, killed by lightning 1 in 80,000, and if terrorist completely blew up one of the 40,000 malls in America each week, your chances of getting killed are 1 in a million. So if all these things are much more likely than your finding the one, why bother?

Why bother? That's a quitter talking. We need to scourer the planet looking for the one person who gets us. We need to stay encouraged even if we find that person and they have made a mistake and are with someone else. What do we do then if our unicorn is not available? Maybe we can setup global speed dating so we can spend 2 minutes at a table with prospective mates, one country at a time, and exchange numbers if we shared a moment. Hmmm, 2 minutes multiplied by 2.4 billion, that's 80 million hours, give or take a few bathroom breaks. We should not be disheartened if we find out the one for us, can't stand the sight of us, clearly they are mistaken and need to spend the time to get to know us. Maybe a law can be passed so that the person we find, is forced to spend time with us, or a review board can adjudicate issues involving someone else thinking that their the one is my the one. All of these things can be worked out if we come up with a plan. With my math skills I'll take the lead.