Digital content on track to equal half Earth's mass by 2245

Watts Up With That? ^ | 16 August 2020 | Charles Rotter

[zeestephen]

If verified, the mass-energy-information equivalence principle will show that information is a physical, dominant, fifth state of matter, and digital bits will outnumber atoms on Earth — it’s just a matter of time.

[SamAdams76]

Digital storage of today was the stuff of science fiction just 40 years ago.

When I was furiously buying record albums in 1980 and buying shelving to store them on, I fantasized about having the ability to access any album or song whenever I wanted to hear it.

"Nah, that would never happen," I told myself back in 1980 as I forked over $18.98 for a copy of Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

[datura]

No mass was added, the state (or observed state) is all that has changed.

Next time someone tells you that the Earth is running out of resources, ask them where those resources have gone. Their reaction is usually priceless when you tell them that the only resources that have left Earth are satellites and space probes. The rest is still here, merely in a different form.