Trillionaire, shmillionaire

The ancient Egyptians believed that the measure of a person’s worth was calculated upon their death when Anubis, god of the afterlife, would weigh their heart against a feather to see if a heavy heart would be fed to Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Here in America, we do things a little differently, where the measure of worth is the net present value of future cash flows, and in lieu of Anubis, we delegate that task to the market. As it stands now, by our ancient rites and customs, Elon Musk is the first trillion-dollar man.

Props to ancient Egypt. “Ammit, the Devourer of Souls” is high quality lore, if you ask me. I’m reminded of a rhetorical question that the Lord Jesus Christ used to ask the crowd that inevitably gathered around him:

What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

I don’t know about the whole world, but Elon Musk has gained to himself a decent chunk. Again, from Snacks:

If you spent $27,000 a day for 100 years, you would spend about a billion dollars over that century. A trillionaire could do $27 million per day for that century.

A trillion dollars is an unfathomable number of dollars.

I’d wager that Musk values the moniker “world’s first trillionaire” far more than the market cap he amassed to acquire it.

Could he be the richest man in human history? In absolute purchasing power terms, I believe so. But he has rivals when you add less tangible assets to the equation. Things like power and admiration, for both of which Elon’s thirst seems unquenchable.

Solomon had more than raw purchasing power. He ruled over ancient Israel at the nation’s apex. He was world famous for both his wealth and his wisdom. The guy had it all and lived life to its fullest:

I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts… And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy

And yet with all this Solomon couldn’t get no satisfaction. Remember that famous line from the Social Network?

A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.

There is no end to the money chase. No matter how much you acquire, there’s always more that you don’t have. I’m sure Elon already has his sights set on 2 trillion. That won’t be enough, either. It never is.

Solomon’s life was one of history’s great tragedies. He didn’t take his own advice. Me? I’m trying to do as he said, not as he did. And he said this:

Better is a handful with quietness than two hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.