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"If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it." The use of "Exactly"

"If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it." The use of "Exactly" seems designed to grant enough wiggle room, for Musk to dismiss even the most conclusive data. Musk also seems to be dismissing the stated goal of "helping solve world hunger" in favor of the misstatement - 'solve world hunger'.

dragonwriter 5y ago
Of course; this is a well-worn rhetorical technique for posturing to existing supporters without creating any real opening; its an extra plus if you can dupe people into wasting their time on it, but most targets are going to recognize it off the bat.
ineedasername 5y ago
Musk may very well reject the data, but there are enough wealthy people & foundations (Gates etc.) and $6B small enough an amount that it wouldn't be hard to raise the money. Heck, the UN WFP's own annual budget is about $9B. You'd think that amount of money would allow them to solve world hunger and still have $3B left over to respond to emergency situations etc. WFP's accounting is usually highly suspect though. For example, a recent report on food waste reported about 900 million tons is wasted. But when you did into the details, they included inedible parts of food. That is a ridiculous methodology: I weighed a banana & its peel when I saw that, and it turns out that by that methodology banana peels alone would account for roughly 30 million tons of "waste". Add in orange peels and pineapple rinds and that's about another 20 million tons. Maybe Musk wouldn't follow through, but a claim of $6B to solve a problem that has been intractable for decades seems like a ridiculous claim. If the WFP suddenly had a magic bullet solution like that, there would be plenty of people chipping in to help. Their lack of details on how they arrived at that number and how they would implement their plan if they had the money speaks for itself though.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  > Even if Musk rejected the data Even If seems a little strong here. Musk's phrasing doesn't indicate that 'he really wants to be part of helping solve world hunger and that he just needs the data to make it happen'. 'How Dare You' is a better match.
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    I think you're reading too much into my phrasing on that point when the rest of my comment is much more substantive on the topic: I agree that Musk's offer is very unlikely to be genuine though, so I'll edit it to "Musk may very well..." to remove the potential distraction from what I wrote afterwards.

dragonwriter 5y ago

Of course; this is a well-worn rhetorical technique for posturing to existing supporters without creating any real opening; its an extra plus if you can dupe people into wasting their time on it, but most targets are going to recognize it off the bat.

ineedasername 5y ago

Musk may very well reject the data, but there are enough wealthy people & foundations (Gates etc.) and $6B small enough an amount that it wouldn't be hard to raise the money. Heck, the UN WFP's own annual budget is about $9B. You'd think that amount of money would allow them to solve world hunger and still have $3B left over to respond to emergency situations etc. WFP's accounting is usually highly suspect though. For example, a recent report on food waste reported about 900 million tons is wasted. But when you did into the details, they included inedible parts of food. That is a ridiculous methodology: I weighed a banana & its peel when I saw that, and it turns out that by that methodology banana peels alone would account for roughly 30 million tons of "waste". Add in orange peels and pineapple rinds and that's about another 20 million tons. Maybe Musk wouldn't follow through, but a claim of $6B to solve a problem that has been intractable for decades seems like a ridiculous claim. If the WFP suddenly had a magic bullet solution like that, there would be plenty of people chipping in to help. Their lack of details on how they arrived at that number and how they would implement their plan if they had the money speaks for itself though.

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
> Even if Musk rejected the data Even If seems a little strong here. Musk's phrasing doesn't indicate that 'he really wants to be part of helping solve world hunger and that he just needs the data to make it happen'. 'How Dare You' is a better match.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  I think you're reading too much into my phrasing on that point when the rest of my comment is much more substantive on the topic: I agree that Musk's offer is very unlikely to be genuine though, so I'll edit it to "Musk may very well..." to remove the potential distraction from what I wrote afterwards.