this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
822 points (92.9% liked)

Technology

59602 readers
3755 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
  • Elon Musk purchased shares of Twitter after unsuccessfully petitioning the CEO to remove a Twitter account tracking his private jet.
  • Musk's personal gripes played a key role in his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
  • Musk banned the account after promising not to, highlighting his prioritization of getting his way over free speech.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/ttBv9

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] BillSchofield@lemmy.world 60 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I'm having trouble figuring out the math for this. My assumptions lead me to divide $30b by 8b people, which is about $4/person. I'm not confident that people can eat on $4 for a year.

What am I getting wrong?

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago

I just did the math myself before seeing your comment and you’re right that math is fucked lmao.

[–] nnjethro@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Maybe it's to provide food security just for those who don't already have it

[–] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They clearly stated

food and freight to feed every human on Earth for a year

It's a shit load of money, but let's be honest you need way more than that to feed everyone. If Musk decided to donate all of his fortune, then maybe that'd be true.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Musks fortune was only 340b at its peak, and the moment he tried to access 44b of it for Twitter it collapsed the price.

Even 340b is still only $41 a year for everyone.

[–] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yea even assuming the 340b a 25 pound bag of rice was about 22 bucks when I googled it and about the same for cheap beans. Maybe between the two a person could survive a long time but it wouldn't be pleasant. I'm sure if you buy in those bulks you could get it for way cheaper too but still, math doesn't add up.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Based on the prices I looked up you could feed everyone on Earth 1,800 kcal of potatoes for one day for around 40 billion USD. So... lets do it! Global spud day! Don't ask me where to get a pot that big for boiling all them taters though.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 months ago

You do make a relavant point. Prices have doubled in the last couple of years and I think the statistic is from the early 2010s.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 9 months ago

That the costs scale down the more massive the production. If you're in the industrialized world, the money you pay for food is almost all profit. Not the cost of agriculture, not the cost of harvesting and packaging, not freight time, maintenance and fuel, not logistics and accounting. Profit.

Most of our money spent is bribes goes in the pocket of each of the capitalists along the way taking their bit of rent.