WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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This is a United States
one-dollar bill.

2
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It's just over a tenth of a millimetre thick.

3
00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:07.740
So, what if you had a million of them?

4
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One million US dollars
stacked up into the sky?

5
00:00:11.860 --> 00:00:13.880
How tall would that stack be?

6
00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:15.480
Well, I mean, first of all,
it would fall over.

7
00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.320
So let's say instead that
you put that stack on its side.

8
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One after the other
after the other, lined up.

9
00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.460
Not edge to edge, but just stacked up.

10
00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:24.500
How long would that stack be?

11
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Well, it'd be about the length of
a US football field or a UK football pitch.

12
00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:31.580
So, that's the distance
that I'm gonna walk, right now.

13
00:00:31.580 --> 00:00:35.480
And as we go, have a think about
just how much money that is.

14
00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:39.140
We passed $10,000 within
my first couple of steps back there,

15
00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:42.340
and that's more money than
the average annual wage in a lot of the world.

16
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Now, there's a money clock on-screen,
tied to the GPS in this camera,

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so the numbers should be
about right as we go.

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A lot of folks have created visualisations

19
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of the difference between
a million and a billion.

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Humphrey Yang on TikTok did a great one
with grains of rice,

21
00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:01.460
and Wren at Corridor Digital did
this spectacular visual effects demonstration.

22
00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:05.700
but where I think those visualisations fall down
is that they rely on volume.

23
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They rely on three-dimensional stuff,
and that's just not something

24
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that the human brain is
particularly good at.

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It's just not intuitive that if you multiply
the height, width, and depth of a cube by ten,

26
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then the volume increases by a thousand.

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Yes, mathematically obvious
if you know the formula,

28
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but intuitively, it's just not that easy
to actually understand.

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If you really want to understand the difference
between a million and a billion,

30
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then you need something
one-dimensional.

31
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You need distance.

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So, I am gonna drive the length of
one billion dollars.

33
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It doesn't feel like
it should take that long, right?

34
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After all, I walked to a million dollars
in a minute or so.

35
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How long could it take
to get to a billion

36
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when you've got a car
and some fast roads?

37
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Okay. Dashcam in.

38
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Seatbelt on.

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Let's drive to a billion dollars.

40
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Oops.

41
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<i>Head east towards Cook Road.</i>

42
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<i>Head west towards Cook Road.</i>

43
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.020
<i>Turn left onto Cook Road.</i>

44
00:03:43.980 --> 00:03:43.980
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
turn left onto Domneva Road.</i>

45
00:03:43.980 --> 00:03:47.760
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
turn right onto Ripple Road.</i>

46
00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.340
<i>Turn right onto Ripple Road, A1306</i>

47
00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:35.840
<i>and use the left lane
to take the A13 slip road.</i>

48
00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:57.640
<i>Use the left lane
to take the A13 slip road.</i>

49
00:06:03.940 --> 00:06:06.840
<i>Continue on A13 for six miles.</i>

61
00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:17.300
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
use the second from the left lane</i>

51
00:12:17.300 --> 00:12:21.040
<i>to take the M25 slip road to M11, M1.</i>

52
00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:34.040
<i>Use the second from the left lane
to take the A2 slip road.</i>

53
00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:37.880
<i>Use the second from the left lane
to take the M25 slip road,</i>

54
00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:40.160
<i>then use the right lane
to keep right.</i>

55
00:12:47.140 --> 00:12:49.300
<i>Use the right lane
to keep right.</i>

56
00:12:57.020 --> 00:13:01.100
<i>In 400 feet, at Mar Dyke Interchange,
take the third exit.</i>

57
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<i>Exit the roundabout.</i>

58
00:14:25.060 --> 00:14:25.060
<i>In half a mile,
at St Nicholas Roundabout,</i>

59
00:14:25.060 --> 00:14:28.880
<i>In half a mile,
continue onto A282.</i>

60
00:15:09.180 --> 00:12:14.160
<i>Continue onto A282 for five miles.</i>

61
00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:17.300
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
use the second from the left lane</i>

62
00:20:23.340 --> 00:20:26.480
<i>to take the A2 slip road
to M2, Canterbury.</i>

63
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.760
<i>Continue onto A2 for half a mile.</i>

64
00:21:08.060 --> 00:21:11.540
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
keep right at the fork.</i>

65
00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:27.900
<i>Keep right at the fork.</i>

66
00:21:37.120 --> 00:21:40.460
<i>Continue on A2 for 34 miles.</i>

67
00:53:20.280 --> 00:53:23.960
<i>In a quarter of a mile,
continue onto Thanet Way.</i>

68
00:53:44.240 --> 00:53:47.220
<i>Continue on Thanet Way for 16 miles.</i>

69
01:07:36.020 --> 01:07:39.780
<i>take the second exit
onto Canterbury Road/A28.</i>

70
01:08:16.220 --> 01:08:19.580
<i>Exit the roundabout
onto Canterbury Road.</i>

71
01:08:19.580 --> 01:08:22.620
<i>Continue on Canterbury Road
for two miles.</i>

72
01:11:12.240 --> 01:11:15.700
<i>In 1000 feet, at the roundabout,
take the second exit</i>

73
01:11:15.700 --> 01:11:18.940
<i>and stay on Canterbury Road, A28.</i>

74
01:14:30.340 --> 01:14:32.980
<i>Turn left onto Domneva Road.</i>

75
01:14:38.240 --> 01:14:42.320
<i>In 1000 feet, turn right
onto Westgate Bay Avenue.</i>

76
01:15:08.080 --> 01:15:09.720
<i>Turn right.</i>

77
01:15:20.260 --> 01:15:21.700
<i>Continue straight.</i>

78
01:16:10.360 --> 01:16:14.180
<i>In 1000 feet, turn left
onto Old Boundary Road.</i>

79
01:16:27.480 --> 01:16:32.020
<i>Turn left onto Old Boundary Road,
then your destination will be on the left.</i>

80
01:17:08.400 --> 01:17:10.760
<i>Your destination is on the left.</i>

81
01:17:39.800 --> 01:17:41.760
Ten thousand dollars,

82
01:17:41.760 --> 01:17:45.480
the sort of money that's more than
the average annual wage

83
01:17:45.480 --> 01:17:47.040
in a lot of the world.

84
01:17:47.040 --> 01:17:49.880
That was a couple of steps.

85
01:17:49.880 --> 01:17:51.120
A million dollars,

86
01:17:51.120 --> 01:17:55.960
life-changing sums of money for
almost everyone, except a lucky few.

87
01:17:55.960 --> 01:18:00.020
Well, that took a minute to walk.

88
01:18:01.220 --> 01:18:03.140
But a billion?

89
01:18:04.060 --> 01:18:07.780
Well, that takes more than
an hour to drive.

90
01:18:11.000 --> 01:18:13.300
And what if you wanted to
go to a trillion?

91
01:18:23.780 --> 01:18:27.060
If you wanted to go to
a trillion dollars,

92
01:18:27.060 --> 01:18:34.660
well then, the distance of that would take
a 787 -- at cruising speed -- five days.

93
01:18:35.480 --> 01:18:39.480
The words may sound very similar...

94
01:18:39.480 --> 01:18:45.400
but that's the difference between
a million, a billion, and a trillion.