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As absurd as these visualizations are, it does raise the bigger point that it is very difficult for our brains to understand large numbers. It is difficult for
by Elite 16y ago
As absurd as these visualizations are, it does raise the bigger point that it is very difficult for our brains to understand large numbers.
It is difficult for most people to really grasp how much 184 million gallons is, or to tell the difference between $1 Trillion in bailout vs $2 trillion in bailout money. After some point, we just give up and call it "a lot". I think this has very real public policy consequences.
But I'd bet, we'd very much understand if your boss said he was cutting your $100k salary to $50k.
- sdfx 16y agoI've heard an interview on the planet money podcast some time ago where they had a teacher on. The teacher said, that she uses one dollar bills which she hands over to a student one bill at a time to give them a sense of larger numbers. She explains to them that it would take about 11 days to give them 1 million, but about 31 years to give them 1 billion. I thought this was a nifty way to 'visualize' these abstract numbers.