<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead">Simple twist of fate</h2>

It is 2023, and humans rule the Earth. There are 8.1 billion of us, spread across 900,000 km² of land. We build cities, farm the land and mine mineral resources. We can even zip around the world by air. The BBC's Jon Farrar writes: "We stand astride the world as a god."

But things could have shaken out very differently. A new study claims that we almost became extinct.

Researchers discovered that about 900,000 years ago, the number of our ancestors decreased by 98.7 per cent.¹ Only about 1,280 humans remained on Earth. The populationAll of the people that live in a place. remained tiny for the next 117,000 years before springing back up.

Our existence is the result of a very unlikely series of events.

As long as 13.8 billion years ago, the universe came into existence with the Big BangThe moment the universe came into being. It is thought that this took place in a kind of explosion from a dimensionless singularity.. It set the laws of nature, such as the speed of light and strength of gravity. If these were just a little different, the universe would not be able to support life.

Then, 4.6 billion years ago, a dying star exploded and created the Sun. And 4 billion years ago, water arrived via icy comets. Life began with simple single cellCells are the basic building blocks of all living things. A cell is also a room with bars that prisoners are kept in. organismsAn organism is an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.. But it took a billion more years for the two to combine and create the first complex life form.

Sixty-five million years ago, the dinosaurs were wiped out. Our mammal ancestors managed to survive. They gradually evolved into what we became today.

It is an extraordinary lucky streak. As astronomer Carl Sagan once said: "Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception." We have won the cosmic lottery time and time again.

This suggests that the fact of our existence is nothing short of a miracleSomething amazing or wonderful. It is a very unusual event.. Another new paper from the University of Oxford even claims that there is a "vanishingly small" chance of intelligent life existing anywhere else. We might be a true one-off.

Yet others think we should not get ahead of ourselves. There is still much that we do not know. The universe extends far beyond our knowledge. Other lifeforms like us may have evolved elsewhere. 

Some believe that our universe is just one part of an even vaster multiverseThe idea that there may be many universes, and ours is just one of them. . In a massive cosmosThe universe, especially when it is understood as an ordered system. with endless possibilities, no one chain of events seems that remarkable. 

Is our existence a miracle? 

Yes: We exist because of a long series of chance reactions and collisions, universe-creating explosions and microscopic bacteria: a story so miraculous that it makes science fiction dull by comparison. 

No: A miracle is something that ignores natural law. Humanity is special. But our existence can be explained scientifically as a series of processes. The miracle is not us but the Big Bang itself.

Or... Calling human life a miracle suggests that it is a good thing. But it is actually anything but. We have gobbled up resources, warmed the atmosphere and polluted the oceans. Our existence is a curse.

Population - All of the people that live in a place.

Big Bang - The moment the universe came into being. It is thought that this took place in a kind of explosion from a dimensionless singularity.

Cell - Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. A cell is also a room with bars that prisoners are kept in.

Organisms - An organism is an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.

Miracle - Something amazing or wonderful. It is a very unusual event.

Multiverse - The idea that there may be many universes, and ours is just one of them.

Cosmos - The universe, especially when it is understood as an ordered system.