The odds of winning the listserve on your birthday are roughly 1.14 in 10 million, if that is not enough evidence that I'm one of the luckiest humans alive, I don't know what is; I received my winning email on the 13th of April, or my 17th Birthday.
But well, speaking of odds, The incredibly low odds that a complex interaction of different chemical substances produced on the death of different stars would give rise to a conscious living organism who is currently writing an email to other fellow living organisms living on a tiny little rock orbiting a medium-sized star in a galaxy that contains between 100 and 400 billion stars make the 1.14 in 10 million figure just a cake-walk, so I'm probably not as lucky as I previously thought; Thanks Science for giving us the ability to accurately asses probabilities and for proving I'm not especially lucky at all..
Speaking of Science, I think that the solution to most human problems will come through technological advancements and science; They have given us tools that have dramatically revolutionized our lives for the better, nevertheless, I think that all the recent and not-so-recent technological advancements are just the icing on the cake, from the Steam Engine to the Internet, we're just beginning to recognize how much technology and science can change our lives.
If you liked the last part, you'll sure like Michio Kaku's recent books (Physics of the Future and The Future of the Mind); If you are unhappy or feeling depressed, you should read The Enchiridion by Epictetus and The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, both are books about the paradoxical achievement of happiness through accepting that negative phenomena may affect your life; I've lost a sizable amount of weight just by watching the total amount of calories I eat, I'm living testimony to the fact that you can lose weight while eating chocolate and ice cream every single day, if you're interested, read up The Hacker's Diet by John Walker, it is available completely free-of-charge online and the information it provided has changed my life.
If you love science, mathematics, like to debate politics or like talking about anything that is interesting enough for intelligent conversation, I'd love to hear back from you; and if you ever find yourself in a vacation near Cairo, Egypt where I live, drop an email! I'd love to have a drink or two with you.
Cheers.
Ahmad Khaled
[email protected]
Cairo, Egypt