So today I was sitting in class thinking about the world population. Lately Ive been trying to be alone, trying to go places where I can just be by myself for a little bit. Thats why I went to the dirt road, a few days later I went to another secluded area near a highway, where I was interrupted by a passerby. Then Sunday I went to the top of a parking garage at night to watch people and cars below, where I was inturrupted by a police officer wondering what I was doing. So I was sitting in class today thinking that there is really no where I can be alone. There are 6.6 billion people on this planet, so I am bound to be inturrupted by one of them anywhere I go, it seems. Then I got to thinking about how big the number 6.6 billion really is. I mean, we all know that it is a pretty big number, but I dont think you realize how big it really is. So I put the number into seconds, to put it into perspective. One second is not a very long time, as we all know, but 6.6 billion seconds really ads up. So I crunched the numbers, and was astounded by what I found.
1 million seconds ago was 11.5 days ago, which would be September 19, not too long ago. I was surprised by how little time this was.
1 billion seconds ago was 31.7 years ago, roughly January 1977, this one shocked me!
But what was even more shocking was that 6.6 billion seconds ago was 209.25 years ago, roughly June 1799. June of 1799!!
I am only one second in 209 years!! One second in nearly three lifetimes! This is slightly belittling, but also very humbling.
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