That definition is meaningless without a distance metric (for &quot;different&quot;) or a scoring function (for &quot;better, greater&quot;). And some reference point for &quot;usual&quot; - are we comparing this snowflake to all the other snowflakes? To a grain of sand?[1] To every other subset of atoms in the universe?<p>In the context of this article, I&#x27;m pretty sure &quot;special&quot; is intended to mean things like &quot;valuable [to humans]&quot; and &quot;worth preserving [to humans]&quot;, and to distinguish life from mundane things like snowflakes and scribbles. It seems really weird to me, to ask &quot;is life special just because it&#x27;s rare?&quot; in a context where the word &quot;special&quot; applies to snowflakes.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;commons.wikimedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;File:Sand_under_electron_microscope.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;commons.wikimedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;File:Sand_under_electron_...</a>