A nightmare about to come true ?
Context :
Half the atoms in the planet could be digital data by 2245
Adam Mann / August 30, 2020
Extract :
Information might seem immaterial.
But within a few short centuries, the total amount of digital bits produced annually by humanity could exceed the number of atoms on our planet and, even more unexpectedly, account for half of its mass.
We live in information-rich times. Cell phones everywhere and high social media use mean that almost every human being is generating astonishing quantities of computerized content every day.
IBM and other technology research companies have estimated that 90% of the world's current digital data was produced in the last decade alone, prompting physicist Melvin Vopson of the University of Portsmouth in England to wonder where we might be headed in the future.
His analysis began with the fact that Earth currently contains roughly 10^21, or 100 billion billion, bits of computer information.
"This is everything we collectively do," Vopson told Live Science. "Any digital content produced and stored anywhere on the planet by anyone."
Vopson then calculated how much more data might exist in the future. This isn't simply a linear extrapolation, since the amount of new information is also growing with time.
Assuming a 20% annual growth rate in digital content, Vopson showed that 350 years from now, the number of data bits on Earth will be greater than all the atoms inside it, of which there are about 10^50 or a hundred trillion trillion trillion trillion.
Even before this time, humanity would be using the equivalent of its current power consumption just to sustain all these zeros and ones.
"The question is:
Where do we store this information? How do we power this?"
Vopson said. "I call this the invisible crisis, as today it is truly an invisible problem."
While such timescales might seem far enough in the future to ignore at present, Vopson also warns of another possible concern.
In 1961, the German-American physicist Rolf Landauer proposed that, because erasing a digital bit produces a tiny amount of heat, there's a link between information and energy.
Though still a matter of scientific debate, this finding, known as Landauer's principle, has received some experimental verification in recent years.
In a 2019 study published in the journal AIP Advances, Vopson posited that there might therefore be a relationship between information and mass.
The conjecture relies on the famous equation E = mc^2, derived by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century.
Einstein's work showed that energy and mass are interchangeable, leading Vopson to calculate the potential mass of a single bit of information — about 10 million times smaller than an electron.
This means that the current mass of information produced every year is insignificant, about the weight of a single E. coli bacteria, Vopson said.
But, assuming that same 20% growth per year, half of Earth's mass could be converted into digital data in less than 500 years.
Assuming a 50% growth rate, half the planet would be information by just 2245.
Vopson's findings appeared Aug. 11 in the same journal, AIP Advances.
"I see this as a real problem," Vopson said. "Just [like] burning fossil fuels, plastic pollution and deforestation, I think the information is something overlooked by everyone. We are literally changing the planet bit-by-bit."
In fact, he considers the growth rates in his paper to be somewhat conservative (the International Data Corporation estimates the current data growth rate at 61 percent) and thinks this information catastrophe might occur sooner than predicted.
A way to alleviate the issues of storing such vast amounts of data might be to develop technology that would keep information in non-material mediums such as holograms, he said.
The arguments put forth in the study are thought-provoking and surprising, particle physicist Luis Herrera of the University of Salamanca in Spain, who was not involved in the work, told Live Science.
But the idea that information has mass remains theoretical and will require experiments to prove it, he added.
Given the long timeframes involved and the reality of other, more immediate crises, "I think there are a lot more important problems than this one," Herrera said.
MY TAKE :
And , it seems this nightmare may not wait till 2245. It may arrive by 2025 !
If you have any doubt , here is some indication :
Generative AI Could Pollute the Internet to Death / Alberto Romero / 16 Nov 2022
Extract :
Generative AI is the most transformative application the field has ever seen. It will redefine how we create but also how we interact with and relate to the creations of others.
Whereas traditional AI allows us to extract patterns and insights from data, shaping them into new knowledge, generative AI goes beyond that.
It uses that data to generate more data.
And that isn’t even its most profound implication. The fact that its usefulness manifests at the consumer level will change everything.
Anyone can use generative AI to create new data.
We’re living in an unprecedented era of creative expansion.
What historically has been reserved for the few is now within reach for anyone with a computer and internet access.
Most people are still unaware this technology exists, but it won’t be long before it becomes mainstream.
It’s easy to access and use, super cheap, and extremely versatile. And it improves fast.
Generative AI’s potential at the individual level is huge, but at the collective level, it’s life-changing.
At that level, what matters most is scale — not as in “large enough to solve a problem,” but as in “ large enough to cause one. ”
The fast-paced development combined with transversal usefulness and inherent scalability (easy to use and cheap) is generative AI’s greatest strength — and its greatest weakness.
It’s not the tools it’s how we use them
Two caveats.
First, as I’ve written in the past, I think generative AI tools can help enhance human ability — writing, painting, coding, and anything else that may come next.
Second, not everyone uses these tools to mindlessly generate content. Some truly explore their creative selves. They imbue their creations with intent and personality (even if it’s impossible to capture them fully with words).
These caveats reveal that this “weakness” isn’t intrinsic to the tools — it’s not about “they lack intent,” “AI art isn’t art” or anything of the sort.
Instead, the problem emerges where these tools intersect with our lack of a sense of measure and the external incentives we all are subject to — when our goal is to generate as much content as we can to obtain some benefit, the story changes.
Many people won’t just enhance their abilities, they’ll replace their presence — using the tools at every chance.
If we can use these tools for any creative activity, many ( if not most ) will use them for all creative activities.
Also, people will use them as surprise boxes, not as creativity explorers:
“ let’s see what comes out on the other side and hope it’s good enough.”
The problem is not in the tools but in our use of them.
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 11 Dec 2022
Related Reading:
Ø Data becomes an Air Molecule : Free to travel anywhere………[ 30 July 2019 ]
Extract :
Parallel to the Theory of Thermodynamics , I would like to propound the following as far
as the “ Theory of Information “ is concerned :
“ Like Entropy , content keeps growing with each and every human interaction , either
with other humans or with his environment , and content can no longer remain
hidden , nor can it be destroyed “
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Ø LESSONS FROM DISTANT PAST ? …………………………….[ 15 March 2016 ]
Extract :
In the epic story of RAMAYAN , following incidence is described :
After Sita's abduction by Ravana , Lord Rama invaded the isle of Lanka with his army
A fierce battle followed
At one point , when Ravana feared that he might lose the battle , he asked two of his ace warriors , Ahi-Ravana and Mahi-Ravana to go and fight Rama
When an arrow of Rama hit these brothers , hundreds of drops of blood would fall on the ground
But , horror of horror !
From each drop of blood, arose another clone of Ahi-Ravana / Mahi-Ravana !
So , a hundred drops of blood gave rise to another hundred demons !
And when Rama's arrows hit those hundred demons and shed ten thousand drops of blood , ten thousand demons got multiplied !
