I used to wonder how and why I am ME, myself, and not someone else--and why not as easily a fish, or a cat, or a tree?
Doctor Lewis Thomas writes in The Lives of a Cell: "Statistally, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you'd think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprize. We are alive against the stupendous odds of genetics, infinitely out-numbered by all the alternates who might, except for luck, be in our places,
"Everyone is one in three billion at the moment, which describes the odds. Each of us is a self-contained, free-standing individual, labeled by specific protein configurations at the surface of cells, identifiable by whorls of fingertip skin, maybe even by special medleys of fragrance. You'd think we'd never stop dancing."
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