The Universe in Your Hand

Image via Wikimedia Commons

If I shuffle a deck of 52 cards and hold it out for you to pick one, I can do so with an astonishing guarantee: No other deck in history has ever existed in this exact configuration — and no other deck ever will.

That doesn’t seem right, does it? Playing cards have been around since the 9th century, the standard deck since 1516. A lot of shuffling has happened since then. Cowboys played cards. World War II soldiers…