ohyesrobot.ordoliberal.com

sunset

Original: sunset on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Transcript

Panel 1:
Man: Can you put a price on a sunset?

Panel 2:
Woman: Yes. How much would you have to be paid to never see a sunset again?

Panel 3:
Man: I won't-
Woman: Bearing in mind that a 100 million dollar endowment could provide meals for hungry kids for an entire city forever.

Panel 4:
Woman: Assuming you dislike hunger, we just divide 100 million by 365 sunsets a year...

Panel 5:
Woman: ...times a year multiplier by your expected remaining years of life, and...

Panel 6:
Woman: That sunset is worth just under $6,850 maximum.

Panel 7:
Man (shaking fist): Someday, the people will rise up and annihilate the microeconomists!

Panel 8:
Woman: Pfft. Good luck solving a 7-billion agent coordination problem.

Votey:
Man (looking deflated): Pray I don't recalculate for saving only one child from hunger a day!

Alt text

An eight-panel comic. A man and a woman stand watching an orange sunset over hills. The man asks, "Can you put a price on a sunset?" The woman replies, "Yes. How much would you have to be paid to never see a sunset again?" As the man protests "I won't-", she launches into a calculation: a 100 million dollar endowment could feed hungry kids for a whole city forever; dividing 100 million by 365 sunsets a year, times a multiplier for his expected remaining years of life, she concludes "That sunset is worth just under $6,850 maximum." The man, furious and shaking his fist, declares, "Someday, the people will rise up and annihilate the microeconomists!" The woman coolly responds, "Pfft. Good luck solving a 7-billion agent coordination problem." Votey: A close-up of the man's deflated, glaring face as he warns, "Pray I don't recalculate for saving only one child from hunger a day!"

Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.