I was wondering this weekend...

... Can you figure a billion? I mean, how many zeroes does it have after '1'? Twelve, I guess? It is a big number. Hard to imagine.

But just to get an idea, remember a time in your life when you might have tried to count up to the furthest you could? Mine was till 2000, if I didn't skip any on my way. I remember it took me such a long time, I felt kinda stupid afterwards, because maybe I could have made a better use of my time with something else.

Now I can finally see, however, that the time I'd spent counting up to 2000 maybe a decade ago was worth something, and that is realizing how damn big a billion must be.

I might be a bit around the bushes here but, in order to make my point, it's important to be sure you understand the magnitude of this number. As we know, there are billions of Sun-like-stars in our very own galaxy. What are the odds of finding similar solar systems with planets like ours, orbiting other suns along the Milky Way?

Now, we also know there are billions of galaxies just like ours throughout the universe as well, so if you do the math, you may reckon it's something like billions times billions stars floating everywhere in space, with their own planetary systems. Bearing that in mind, a variety of interesting questions may come up in your head as what the odds would be, now, of finding somewhere out there across the space something just like what we have here in our tinny bit of universe, or maybe how big this black old nothing in which everything floats since forever really is. You may even notice a slight change in the way you feel about life in other planets, since there might be awfully lots of them around. Nevertheless, my friend, in the aftermath, the answers to all these questions will still insistently remain either uncertain or obscure as our idea of what a billion really means.

Therefore, to those who didn’t get my point: don’t just wonder during the weekends, go do something useful! lol

Alan Serra.