Neil and Katy Discuss Fingerprints and Individuality | StarTalk

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Why are there seven million people? And why do each one of us have our own fingerprint? Even twins have different fingerprints, who are otherwise genetically identical. Why would you rather we were all the same? No, I'm not. Why is that more odd to you than the fact that we all have different personalities? We have different talents.

But personalities can be based on what you learn, environment—not sure—and not just nature, right? So I thought about that the other day, and it like kind of made me spin. It's just like we all have different fingerprints. Okay, I get it. Grand design. Well, so it's an intriguing fact.

But here's something that may relate: most people who could be born will never be born. Will never even exist. So the fact that sperm—okay, yeah, sure, yeah, yeah—one gets 98, science the rest don't. So where do they go? Yeah, they're part of the number of human beings that will never ever be born.

So the fuel—because there's not enough souls. That would be something! If you ran out of souls, what would a soulless person look like? Do you believe you have a soul? I don't know what a soul is. I know there's—what? Here's something that freaks me out.

Every day, every morning, I wake up, and I say, "How is it that every morning I wake up as me and not as someone else?" Oh yeah, yeah. This is weird—being me! What is it like being you, right? What's something it's like? Why am I me every day? Wow. How does that happen?

We have these electro-chemicals in our head, and somehow that's me. And on me every day, as far as I know, as far as now. I wonder if I woke up as a different person each day—would I know it?

A Mysterious Fungus Is Killing Rattlesnakes | National Geographic

Ron Howard on Science and Technology | Breakthrough

View All

Graphical impact of cost changes on marginal and average costs

In the last video, we numerically studied how changes in productivity or cost might affect your marginal cost, your average variable cost, your average fixed cost, or your average total cost. In this video, we’re going to think about it visually. So, we …

Remembering John Glenn: See Footage of His Legendary First Orbit of the Earth | National Geographic

Into the soft light of this Florida, Don emerges. Friendship 7 makes its debut to the day of its destiny. The Mercury Atlas stands long, waiting to depart this earth—a quarter of a million pounds of rocket, with thrust equal to three and a half million ho…

8 Daily Habits That Changed My Life

What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here. So, the new year is fast approaching. It’s almost going to be 2020, and for some reason, I still think that five years ago was 2010. But anyway, as we get closer to the new year, people begin creating their New Year…

The Quiet Beauty of Kaikōura | National Geographic

[Music] Nestled on the northeast coast of New Zealand’s South Island, Kaikoura is a small town with a big story. Fresh seafood, friendly faces, and above all, abundant wildlife that you can experience up close. National Geographic sent us three cultural …

Technology and presidential communication | US government and civics | Khan Academy

In this video, we’re going to talk a little bit about how modern technology, like social media, has enhanced the communication power of the presidency. Now, being president has a lot of advantages, but politically, one of those advantages is that as pres…

Explorers Festival, Saturday June 17 | National Geographic

From a distance, it always seems impossible. But impossible is a place we haven’t been to yet. Impossible is what beckons us to go further, to explore. It calls us from the wild, lures us into the unknown, asks us to dig deeper, to look at things from new…

Neil and Katy Discuss Fingerprints and Individuality | StarTalk

More Articles