The topic of wealth inequality and its extreme scale is illustrated by the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire.
Elon Musk's wealth—exceeding $200 billion—makes it difficult for most people to grasp.
Simply put, 1 million seconds is about 11.5 days, while 1 billion seconds equals over 31 years.
The disparity between the two is astronomical.
He could pay someone $100,000 dollars a day for 5000 years & still be rich.
What do you think that means for you?
@Museek: The inability of most people to not remotely understand or appreciate exponential scales is why folks believe somehow that they will become wealthy, i.e., a multimillionaire, and why they keep thinking that millionaires and billionaires can't afford and shouldn't have to pay the same percent of their income and usable, collateralized assets in taxes as they do.
It also why people somehow think that it's easy to get to other planets like Pluto and even other solar systems and galaxies.
I had an astronomy teacher at my first college in Massachusetts give an excellent demonstration on astronomical size.
He used a volleyball to represent the sun, then placed pebbles at increasing intervals to represent the planets and their orbits.
As I recall, Pluto was a tiny rock that was placed a 1/4 mile away.
He then asked the class where the nearest star would be in relation to the "Sun".
Most (not me, I said D.C.) guessed a few miles.
The answer: Reno.
That really puts the vastness of space into perspective!
Do you remember how your classmates reacted?
Quite surprised as I recall.
@grayman @thedisasterautist i'd say that's how you reach people... surprising them.. that surprise will get them to think..
I think it is an excellent strategy.. presenting facts in a surprising way because you connect emotionally with people. It can lead to much more fruitful discussion..
@Museek @grayman: Something I do when people who are optimistic about us getting to nearby starts and deep space exploration within the next 100 years is this.
I point out how fast Voyager 1 is going and how far it's gone, and then I point out how far away it is to Proxima Centauri. Then I point out how long it will take for Voyager 1 to get there, mentioning that the plucky spacecraft is the fastest-traveling thing mankind has ever produced.
I think growing up with Star Trek and Star Wars has given many a false sense of what interstellar travel would be like.