The information catastrophe
Currently, we produce ∼1021 digital bits of information annually on Earth. Assuming a 20% annual growth rate, we estimate that after ∼350 years from now, the number of bits produced will exceed the number of all atoms on Earth, ∼1050. After ∼300 years, the power required to sustain this digital production will exceed 18.5 × 1015 W, i.e., the total planetary power consumption today, and after ∼500 years from now, the digital content will account for more than half Earth’s mass, according to the mass-energy–information equivalence principle.
Besides the existing global challenges such as #climate, #environment, #population, #food, #health, #energy, and #security, our estimates point to another singular event for our planet, called #information #catastrophe
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0019941
Currently, we produce ∼1021 digital bits of information annually on Earth. Assuming a 20% annual growth rate, we estimate that after ∼350 years from now, the number of bits produced will exceed the number of all atoms on Earth, ∼1050. After ∼300 years, the power required to sustain this digital production will exceed 18.5 × 1015 W, i.e., the total planetary power consumption today, and after ∼500 years from now, the digital content will account for more than half Earth’s mass, according to the mass-energy–information equivalence principle.
Besides the existing global challenges such as #climate, #environment, #population, #food, #health, #energy, and #security, our estimates point to another singular event for our planet, called #information #catastrophe
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0019941
AIP Publishing
The information catastrophe
Currently, we produce ∼1021 digital bits of information annually on Earth. Assuming a 20% annual growth rate, we estimate that after ∼350 years from now, the nu