Fingerprints are not unique

This may shock you because you were likely brought up with parents, teachers, and writers saying otherwise. As always, I find it amazing at how much we [think we] know that we have never even bothered to qualify, prove, or even simply ask why. Why?, should pepper your life. Without it, an observer has less than the meager trimmings they've already assumed were there. I will show you quite inarguably that fingerprints are not unique. I am not saying that Fingerprints cannot identify a criminal, or that they are not vastly complicated, or even that our usage thus far has been wrong. I am quite simply pointing out one simple truth, and this that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that enforces uniqueness when it comes to the print on your finger.

For the impatient

There is only one question that you need to ask yourself, and that is what would enforce unique designs? When a baby is conceived, it’s DNA does not perform a global database lookup of something along the lines of: 

1. Find all fingerprints that have ever existed
2. Make my fingerprint designs different than all found
3. Update this "master list" so future babies do not use my fingerprints

An individual with even a slight grasp of personal dimension should now be thinking, "wow, why have I blindly assumed this my whole life?" Even if some sort of global lookup was performed, and assuming the human race can live forever (on another planet after our sun explodes) you would discover that eventually this great “fingerprint database” would one day give the okay to make a print in the design of a penguin, or a 747 jetliner, would it not? After all, forever is infinite.

Unique: adj. Being the only one of its kind

For the Interested

You are correct, fingerprints are very complicated. In fact, pull out that powerful microscope you keep close by all the time (is that just me?) and check the buggers out – whoa, even more complex than you assumed! Now, let’s ponder some basic fragments so we don't lose anyone along the way.

• The World Population is now approaching 7 Billion
• Most everyone has 10 fingers. (yes I am including thumbs in there, db)
• At the turn of the first millennium, there were about 300 million people.
• This world has been largely populated for quite some time.

So, the real question is how many people have ever been born? It is estimated that about 100 billion people have been born. That makes 100 billion people, each with 10 fingers. That makes hmmm, carry the 8… add 4… subtract 4… about One Trillion Fingers! (Incidentally, in high school I happened to have a garage band by that name.)

One trillion designs. wow. Out of the 1 trillion prints in time, how many do you think have been scanned, and compared? Aren’t you adorable :-) Have you even ever bothered to ask what makes them unique? Simple assumption; because of their incredibly detailed designs that can zig and zag and include swoops and swirls and other anomalies, they are, individually, extremely differentiated. So extreme, it is very easy to simply call them unique.

If you believe fingerprints are unique, your reasons fall into one of two categories:

#1. Fingerprints are unique because no two of them are alike. Really, what are you basing this on? Out of 1 trillion prints that have existed, how many have been compared? 1 hundred million? I'm no math wizard, but what is that, .01%?

#2 Fingerprints are unique because there is such a vast amount of designs that can be made with the swoops and swirls. True, but then you (humans) must not be infinite, otherwise the designs would have to be infinite as well. Humans can easily be infinite. Sure an asteroid will one day bash into earth and destroy us all, but when? Surely in a couple hundred years we’ll be able to launch ourselves over to Earth2, setup a Cinemax feed and Bam! A few trillion more fingerprints.

Furthermore, have you seen another persons fingerprint? Now really, it does not look that far off from yours now, does it? The designs are limited, although widely, plain and simple. There is nothing tracking and managing all designs of the last 1,000,000,000,000 fingers, and “issuing” a new unused design for finger # 1,000,000,000,001.

Yes, for our purposes of catching criminals, linking people and places during certain times, with motive, a witness and a few matching areas on a print – Sure, it works, but that is not the subject here.

We are safe to consider the designs differentiated enough for our mundane purposes, but no, biologically, physically, logically, and reality – not unique. Nothing is in place to make them be unique. Do you understand this particular statement? As this is the only thing you need understand.

Vast, and Unique, are completely different.

You can read my original query of this question on Google Answers, in 2003, and see what transpired there.