Introduction
Chapter 1: Math Basics: Probability and Large or Small Numbers
Johnson prepares his readers by providing a quick tutorial of some basics required to understand his arguments. It is commonly misunderstood that "chance" is a force; however, it is rather merely an expression of likelihood of an event taking place versus its not taking place. If an event has any likelihood of taking place, it is considered "possible," but possibility should only be claimed in scientific observations have demonstrated the event to have taken place. "Plausibility" is a value of the level of possibility (0-1; 0=impossible; 1=certain; 0.5 is the threshold for an event to be considered "plausible"). Johnson prepares the reader for the significance of these concepts by explaining the lowest limit of physical possibility given all the resources (atoms in the system, the fastest chemical reactions in the universe, and the age of the systems) of the universe (10-108), galaxy (10-96), solar system (10-85), and earth (10-70). He explains that if the probability of an event taking place is lower than these physical barriers, the event is indistinguishable from impossible within that system, and the proposed event may be considered scientifically falsified.
