Every person who has ever lived — 117 billion of us — sits down with a deck.

Each one starts shuffling. One shuffle per second. Forever.

They begin at the moment of the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago.

Today they would have produced more decks than every grain of sand on every beach — billions of times over.

They still wouldn't have made it through one part in a trillion-trillion-trillionth of 52!. Essentially nothing.

Some scales, in order.

Every grain of sand on every beach on Earth: about 8 quintillion.

Every atom in the entire planet: a number with 50 digits.

Every atom in the observable universe: a number with 80 digits.

52! has 68 digits. Bigger than the planet, smaller than the universe. Big enough that every real shuffle is its own hapax.

Set a timer for 52! seconds. Stand on the equator.

Every billion years, take one step forward.

When you've walked around the Earth, take a drop of water from the Pacific Ocean.

When the Pacific is empty, lay a sheet of paper on the ground.

When the stack of paper reaches the Sun, repeat the whole process 1,000 times.

You'll be roughly one-third of the way through.