First off, random !== unique, not even close, ESPECIALLY for things with discrete properties.<p>We know from the pigeon-hole principal, that from enough instances, something will be repeated. So, unique it is not.<p>In your card example, there are 52! (factorial) permutations, but if you shuffle a deck of cards (52! + 1) times, you will have repeated at least one permutation at least once. It&#x27;s been proven, you can&#x27;t avoid it.<p>The permutation is pseudo-random however, meaning that we cannot distinguish it from pure chance.<p>But, beyond that, special !== valuable. Those words are different, not synonyms. Same to &quot;worth preserving&quot;, it&#x27;s not a valid meaning of &quot;special&quot;.<p>Furthermore, life isn&#x27;t just random, there are seemingly an infinite number of variables that influence it. That&#x27;s not discrete, meaning it&#x27;s beyond &quot;just random&quot;, it <i>actually</i> can be unique, such that even with infinite time, it might not <i>ever</i> be repeated.<p>So yes, life is <i>special</i>, it&#x27;s not just a permutation, at least, it hasn&#x27;t been proven to be so yet.<p>Additionally, I&#x27;d rather view life as being special that live in a world where everything is considered &quot;mundane&quot;.