Shankar Sivarajan comments on Fabien’s Shortform

[Shankar Sivarajan]

was able to track the exact citation down.

Here you go:

Gene Likens recalls one particularly frustrating moment, when he blurted out, “Fred [Singer], you’re saying that lakes aren’t valuable. They are economically valuable. Let me give you an example. Let’s say every bacterium is worth $1. There are ${10}^4$ – ${10}^6$ bacteria [ten thousand to a million] in every milliliter of water. You do the math.” Singer replied, “Well, I just don’t believe a bacterium is worth a dollar,” and Likens retorted, “Well, prove that it isn’t.” Twenty-six years later, Likens recalled, “It was the only time I ever shut him up.”

[Fabien Roger]

Thanks for tracking it down!

So I misremembered the exact quote, but I am not very far, at least in spirit? (There would be 10^(24 − 6) milliliters in 1000km² of 100m-deep lakes.)