It’s impossible to have an intuitive feel for a big number, like $1.2 trillion. It puts our intuition on TILT. We have a very real sense of how $1,200 is different than $200. With $1,200, you can make a mortgage payment (at least in my part of the country). With $200, you pay the cable & utility bills. But we have no intuitive feel for how $200 billion might be different than $1.2 trillion. What can you do with $1.2 trillion that you can’t do with $200 billion, or $50 billion? What is $1.2 trillion worth? And how do you manage to communicate its worth to others?
David Leonhardt of the Times has written a brilliant and hugely important column that grapples with this issue in the context of the Iraq war. It is essential reading.
When it comes to big numbers, it is fascinating how large groups of people can come to the same decision. In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki explores the answer to a simple question…
If You Had To Meet Someone In Paris On A Specific Day But Had No Way Of Contacting Them, When And Where Would You Meet?”
When a group of over 1000 people were asked this question, over 40% picked the same time and place (Eiffel Tower at noon). When you figure there are thousands of popular places to meet in Paris, and there are 24 hours in a day, this is pretty spectacular indeed. The Eiffel tower is a pretty sticky place!
Great post.
I’ve been thinking about how, in our culture which is so biased toward visual thinking, there is a strong role for strong infographics to play in making ideas sticky. Quickly scanning or glancing at info to get the gist of it.
examples: http://www.globalrichlist.com/
or a whole wack of beautiful infographics at infosthetics.com
Dino Demopoulos
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! gieowbmtdwnwte