Originally Posted by Ken G

I'm not saying don't wonder, wonder to your heart's content. I'm saying that as you wonder about the role of coincidence in our reality, don't forget to also wonder about the very concept of coincidence itself, and whether it is something real or just something we dreamed up to help us handle certain unexplainable things. The reason this is so important is that one of the main discomforts many people have with scientific thinking is that coincidence is the only explanation for anything in science-- randomness is the only choice process that science includes, and some feel that robs existence of its meaning. But is randomness a real thing, or just a construction by science to treat everything that comes at the limit of where science can go? In other words, at what point does the concept of coincidence stop being useful for us? Look at your own life, your career, your interests, the people who you have chosen to be with. Which of those is not pure coincidence when viewed scientifically? Can you not trace each to some random happenstance that had only the tiniest probability of actually occuring, starting with the gene combination that made you, and continuing with every minute detail of your life? Yet, if someone wanted to understand who you are as a person, would it help to analyze those coincidences, or would they be irrelevant to understanding you, in comparison to what was the result of those coincidences? I think the latter, and I think the same may be said for the explanatory power of coincidence in analyzing the way our universe is, or what pi turned out to be. Calling it a coincidence is a catch-all approach that can never be wrong, and can also never be useful.