How Massive Is Elon Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Fortune? Spend It Yourself
Wired profiles developer Neal Agarwal and his interactive project 'Spend Elon Musk’s Money.' The tool aims to help users visualize the scale of a trillion dollars by allowing them to 'purchase' various items.
Why it matters
The project addresses the cognitive difficulty humans face in comprehending massive financial scales, using interactive media to bridge that gap.
“Trillionaire” is an easy enough word to say. It’s fun, even! Rolls off the tongue. But research has shown that the human brain has a very hard time comprehending the actual size and scope of large numbers. “Trillion” sounds like a short hop from “billion,” after all, even though it is in fact 1,000 times bigger. And even if you are somehow able to wrap your mind around that immense scale, it still feels abstract, no matter how many times you compare it to the area of Central Park or the weight of a fleet of trucks. Maybe a better way to visualize a trillion dollars, then, is through what you can actually buy with it.
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