That's really interesting. I've often used that exact example to re-contextualize the difference between million and billion to people, since while most understand conceptually that one is 1000x bigger than the other, they fail to truly understand just how big that difference is.

One person explained to me that they understood that 1000x was the difference between $1 and $1000, but that didn't feel like that huge of a difference, since their monthly bills were significantly above both numbers. So, they applied that same feeling to the difference between $1 million and $1 billion, making them feel like it wasn't that big of a difference there, either. This was despite the fact that they had a college degree and could obviously do basic math; they simply didn't think about it enough, instead using the "feeling" of what 1000x meant to smaller numbers to judge the size of larger numbers, significantly skewing their understanding.

That's the issue with most people's brains, though it seems you're immune - we can understand the logic of the scenario, but unless we also think about it enough to get past the instinctive "feeling" of that difference, which requires more thought than we usually give to a scenario, we won't really understand how big it is. To people stuck in that window, re-contextualization to things like time and size that they understand more intuitively can really help them see how far off their understanding is.

I believe it's also related to how some people can understand that they're more likely to lose a bet than win it, but still gamble over and over because they "feel" like they're going to win this time.

This is a great honour. Thank you :)