🚀 How fast is 17,000mph?

Three stories about speed, volume, and probability:

SpaceX’s Falcon rockets propelled astronauts to 17,000 mph. At that rate, the rocket would travel from New York to Los Angeles in nine minutes.

Meanwhile on the other Florida coast, the Three Sisters Spring disperses enough water to fill a bathtub in the blink of an eye.

And on Wharton Moneyball, Eric Bradlow said:

“We have metrics in baseball that give us a sense. Suppose I told you that not wearing a mask was the equivalent of smoking half a pack a day or driving three thousand miles without wearing a seatbelt. I don't feel people know how to equate probabilities and effect sizes. There’s no unidimensional scale where we all get it. I know what a .400 and a .300 batting average is and I know how much better .400 is.”

People are relative thinkers.

Retail stores use discounts to great success because people have no idea about intrinsic value. Does it matter that a shirt costs $20 or that a car costs $20,000? It’s hard to tell. But if something is 10% off that’s easy.

Relativity is why communication is crucial. Words matter. It’s through framing that we figure things out. And the larger the number the harder the context.