Harald Greve Høiby


A speech I gave about a grain of sand

12-05-2024


I recently gave a speech at a humanitarian confirmation ceremony to around 400 people. Afterwards, multiple parents thanked me for one thought experiment in particular, and it goes like this:

Imagine you lay a single grain of sand onto the ground. No one would call this a pile of sand. Now place another grain of sand upon the ground. Still no one would call this a pile of sand. Now do this every day for 14 years.

When does the collection of grains become a pile?

Today it looks almost identical to yesterday, so it can’t be today. But compare the sand pile today and 3 years ago, and you will see a significant shift.


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