单词 “doppelganger” 指的是长得和你一模一样的人，但这个人和你没有血缘关系。找到长相酷似你的那个人的机会很小。你想和另一个 “你” 见面吗？

 

What is the likelihood of you having someone who looks just like you? Would it be a good thing? And if you did have one, would you want to meet them?

 

Consider how often your facial features are used to identify you. Your passport, ID card and driving licence all bare your face. To enter your workplace, you likely need to be recognisable. You may need your face to unlock your smartphone and possibly even need it to exclude you from being present at a crime scene.

 

The word 'doppelganger' refers to a person who looks the same as you, essentially¹ sharing your features; those that you thought were unique to you and your identity. Not an identical twin, as a doppelganger has no relation to you. The idea originated in German folklore². A doppelganger was said to be a spirit-double that replicated³ every human and beast on earth.

 

So, let's get real. What are the chances of you having one in the first place? There's said to be a one in 135 chance of an absolute dead ringer for you existing anywhere in the world, so the chances are pretty low, despite folk wisdom promising⁴ you otherwise. And the chances of meeting? The mathematical certainty of finding this particular person is supposedly less than one in a trillion!

 

That said, these statistics may be a good thing. Historically, having a double hasn't always been a positive. Back in 1999, an innocent American man, indistinguishable from the real criminal, was sent to prison for robbery, where he stayed for 19 years. In the end, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. In a different case, a woman in New York was accused of trying to poison her doppelganger with deadly cheesecake so that she could steal her identity!

 

And, why are people interested in finding their possible doppelganger anyway? It may be helpful to look to the past when facial resemblance indicated kinship.

 

Maybe one day you'll meet your lookalike, but we understand that, after this, you possibly don't want to! 

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