Field record · Cultural inheritance
The number had jokes before we got here
Placed beside the FIELD42 count because the same numerals appear in jokes that predate this atlas. No claim that the jokes named the atlas, or that the atlas caused the jokes.
This correspondence interesting · Sources checked · 14 October 2020
Observed
- Under labeled counts, FIELD42 is 42 (ordinal, each character), and 69 (Reduction), and 69 (Reverse Reduction).
- On 14 October 2020, Elon Musk posted: The gauntlet has been thrown down! The prophecy will be fulfilled. Model S price changes to $69,420 tonight!
- Contemporaneous reporting the next day said Tesla's website listed the Model S at $69,420. The joke words are taken from the original post, not from the articles.
- On 9 April 2022, Elon Musk posted: 69.420% of statistics are false.
- On 7 August 2018 he posted: Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. That line is 420 without 69. It is prior 420 humor, not a third 69 exhibit.
Connection
Placed beside the FIELD42 count because the same numerals appear in jokes that predate this atlas. No claim that the jokes named the atlas, or that the atlas caused the jokes.
- Cultural inheritance
- Coincidence compatible
- Personal association
Interpretation
The number had jokes before we got here. What is the same: 69 and 420 as public numerals. What is not the same: a car price, a one-line gag, and a letter-count are three kinds of work. The likely rhyme is cultural humor and numerical match. It is not a known causal mechanism.
The gauntlet has been thrown down! The prophecy will be fulfilled. Model S price changes to $69,420 tonight!
69.420% of statistics are false
Mechanism
Coincidence compatible. The posts are dated and public. The letter-count is arithmetic. No causal path from those posts to the name is known, and none is invented here.
Open questions
If a name counts to a number that already had jokes, what kind of rhyme is that?
What remains after the jokes are believed?
Read beside this
- Don't PanicTrue stories of what humans do when the ending is still open.
- The Book of 42Where noticing is told at length. This plate only sources the jokes.
Sources
- Musk, Elon. X post. 14 October 2020. · Original post. Exact words: The gauntlet has been thrown down! The prophecy will be fulfilled. Model S price changes to $69,420 tonight!
- Musk, Elon. X post. 9 April 2022. · Original post. Exact words: 69.420% of statistics are false.
- Musk, Elon. X post. 7 August 2018. · Original post. Exact words: Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. Listed only as prior 420 humor.
- USA Today. 15 October 2020. · Secondary corroboration that Tesla's website listed the Model S at $69,420. Not the source of the joke wording.
Related records
Canonical plate. · Sources checked.