Absolute statistics

There are some numbers and information bits that you can tell off the top of your head. How many objects are on this table in front of you? How many meals have you eaten today? What's your age? How many houses do you own?

Some data is a bit harder to find but only requires some thinking or a simple research. How many objects have you touched on this table today? How many meals have you eaten this week so far? How many days have you lived? How many clothes do you own?

Now. How many objects have you ever touched in your life? What's the precise mass of food that you have eaten in your life? Exactly how many cells are a part of your body in this very moment?

Of course you can't answer, nobody can. But there is a precise, true answer to every one of these seemingly trivial questions. It's just that you will never be able to know them (or that there is quantum shit at play somewhere).

Not that it's a bad thing in this pervasive surveillance era, but wouldn't it be fun to know how many steps you walked since you were born? How many beers you drank? How many seconds have you spent sleeping? Dreaming? Working? Studying? Doing things you love, doing things you hate? And probably my favorite one: how many different people have you spoke to? What would seeing a dashboard with all these gauges and counters do to you?

I'm gently haunted by these questions at least once per week but I kinda enjoy it, and I hope the next time you crack open a cold one you will think about this not-so-imaginary counter incrementing somewhere in the vast ethereal information plane!