Belisarius
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 13, 1999
- Messages
- 11,029
Aside: This is my first original post
A couple of nights ago I was chilling in front of my comp, reflecting
on the common price of E. It needs no further mention--I still think
it's outrageous. As I was thinking this at the time, an interesting, if
seemingly pointless question came to mind--"How much is this stuff worth
compared to gold?" Surely it couldn't be worth more than that Holy Grail
of finance and avarice. I had my doubts...
I immediately got to work on this problem. I assumed a price of $25
for a 100 mg dose, and did some simple kinder-grade calculations, and...
I got an answer of $7,075 per ounce of E. This is a real "holy shit!"
moment: Gold is worth "only" $290 an ounce!!
I'm disturbed by this answer. Why?, you might ask. Well, think--a metal
that countless humans have fought and died for over the course of
millennia, a metal that has been worshipped as divine, a metal that has
changed the course of history, a metal that has been intimitely tied-in
to the lived-out lives of billions, is ultimately worth 24 times less than
a pill that gives a select few people a six-hour high.
Not to say that one is really worth more than the other; perhaps both are
equally meaningless, a more sobering thought still. But if you think about
it, really stop to think about it, the implications of this run very
deep indeed.
I was going to ask a question about this, along the lines of the "fifty-
million dollar question" post of a few weeks back, until I realized that
zero, ten, a hundred, or a thousand replies would be less powerful than
the raw contrast alone. I leave you to your thoughts.
A couple of nights ago I was chilling in front of my comp, reflecting
on the common price of E. It needs no further mention--I still think
it's outrageous. As I was thinking this at the time, an interesting, if
seemingly pointless question came to mind--"How much is this stuff worth
compared to gold?" Surely it couldn't be worth more than that Holy Grail
of finance and avarice. I had my doubts...
I immediately got to work on this problem. I assumed a price of $25
for a 100 mg dose, and did some simple kinder-grade calculations, and...
I got an answer of $7,075 per ounce of E. This is a real "holy shit!"
moment: Gold is worth "only" $290 an ounce!!
I'm disturbed by this answer. Why?, you might ask. Well, think--a metal
that countless humans have fought and died for over the course of
millennia, a metal that has been worshipped as divine, a metal that has
changed the course of history, a metal that has been intimitely tied-in
to the lived-out lives of billions, is ultimately worth 24 times less than
a pill that gives a select few people a six-hour high.
Not to say that one is really worth more than the other; perhaps both are
equally meaningless, a more sobering thought still. But if you think about
it, really stop to think about it, the implications of this run very
deep indeed.
I was going to ask a question about this, along the lines of the "fifty-
million dollar question" post of a few weeks back, until I realized that
zero, ten, a hundred, or a thousand replies would be less powerful than
the raw contrast alone. I leave you to your thoughts.