unity行星_当行星变成计算机时

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Everyone knows the Internet is big, and getting bigger all the time.

每个人都知道互联网很大，并且一直在增长。

It’s adding almost 200 million emails a minute, and 18 million text messages, and half a million Tweets, a quarter million Instagram stories and … well, you get the idea.

它每分钟增加近2亿封电子邮件，1800万条文本消息，50万条推文，25万条Instagram故事，以及……嗯，你就明白了。

So here’s a question. With the Internet growing like this every minute of the day, have you ever wondered how much the Internet weighs? I don’t mean the weight of the hardware like computers and cables and servers. I’m talking about the weight of the information itself.

所以这是一个问题。 随着互联网在每天的每一分钟都在如此增长，您是否想过互联网的重量有多大？ 我并不是说像计算机，电缆和服务器这样的硬件的重量。 我说的是信息本身的重要性。

The answer might surprise you. According to a recent study by physicist Melvin Vopson, the total mass of all the data we produce in a year is equal to the mass of just one E. coli bacteria.

答案可能会让您感到惊讶。 根据物理学家梅尔文·沃普森(Melvin Vopson)的最新研究 ，我们一年中产生的所有数据的总质量等于一个大肠杆菌的质量。

I suppose this is a relief. I won’t have to use the spare bedroom to store my daughter’s Tik Tok videos. And data centers like this one Facebook is currently building in Singapore won’t blanket the planet.

我想这是一种解脱。 我将不必使用备用卧室来存储女儿的Tik Tok视频。 Facebook正在新加坡建立的这样一个数据中心不会掩盖这个星球。

Credit: Facebook

信用：Facebook

But this is not the end of the story.

但这还不是故事的结局。

Because Dr. Vopson didn’t stop there. He took this finding and crunched some more numbers to see how things play out in the future as the amount of data continues to multiply.

因为沃普森博士不止于此。 他接受了这一发现，并整理了一些数字，以了解随着数据量的不断增加，未来的情况如何。

And this is where it gets really interesting.

这就是它变得非常有趣的地方。

About 40% of the world’s population still hasn’t come online, and when they do, they will join us at an ever-expanding Internet buffet, where we’re gorging on livestreams, 5G, augmented reality, virtual reality, multi-player gaming, video and new sources of data that are being dreamed up all the time.

全球约40％的人口仍未上网，当他们上网时，他们将加入我们不断扩大的互联网自助餐中，我们将致力于直播，5G，增强现实，虚拟现实，多人游戏游戏，视频和新的数据源一直在梦想中。

According to Dr. Vopson, this tsunami of new information is going to create a problem. If we assume that digital information increases at a rate of 50% a year, it will only take a couple centuries for the mass of all this information to equal half the mass of the entire planet.

沃普森博士认为，新信息的海啸将造成问题。 如果我们假设数字信息以每年50％的速度增长，那么所有这些信息的质量等于整个地球质量的一半仅用了几个世纪的时间。

In other words, even though all of our new data this year will only weigh as much as a single bacteria, we are actually on track to turn half the planet into digital bits and computer code in roughly 200 years.

换句话说，即使我们今年所有的新数据仅重于单个细菌的重量，我们实际上仍有望在大约200年的时间内将地球的一半变成数字位和计算机代码。

“We are literally changing the planet bit by bit.” — Melvin Vopson.

“我们实际上是在一点一点地改变地球。” —梅尔文·沃普森。

This is a lot to digest. My first thought was, well, maybe information won’t grow 50% a year.

这需要消化很多。 我的第一个想法是，也许信息不会以每年50％的速度增长。

So Google took me to this frequently cited study by the International Data Corp, which says the world’s total data will grow from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to a hefty 175 zettabytes in 2025.

因此，谷歌带我去了国际数据公司 ( International Data Corp)的这项经常被引用的研究，该研究称全球总数据将从2018年的33兆字节增长到2025年的175兆字节。

That turns out to be a compound growth of 61% a year.

事实证明，这是每年61％的复合增长率。

Credit: IDC

信用：IDC

Okay, so what does this all really mean?

好的，这到底意味着什么？

For now, nothing, because things don’t get crazy for a while. At 50% growth a year, Vopson says we will have only 1 kilogram of digital information by the year 2070. The law of accelerating returns will only really start having an impact much later.

现在，什么都没有，因为事情不会在一段时间内变得疯狂。 沃普森说，如果以每年50％的速度增长，到2070年，我们将只有1千克数字信息。加速回报的法律实际上只会在更晚的时候开始产生影响。

But at some point, humanity will have to address the problem. Perhaps we learn how to store information differently, or we create computers off-world.

但是在某个时候，人类将不得不解决这个问题。 也许我们在学习如何以不同的方式存储信息，或者我们在世界之外创建了计算机。

Maybe the moon can be turned into a giant computer — we wouldn’t have to worry about keeping it cool.

也许月亮可以变成一台巨型计算机-我们不必担心保持其凉爽。

Or perhaps Elon Musk is right and we can’t stay on Earth forever. If we are to keep pursuing knowledge and ensure the survival of humanity on a planet that is one asteroid strike away from extinction, then our future is among the stars.

也许埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)是对的，我们不能永远留在地球上。 如果我们要继续追求知识并确保人类生存在离灭绝只有一颗小行星的星球上，那么我们的未来就在恒星之中。

There are no good answers now. But it’s probably time to start asking the question.

现在没有好的答案。 但是可能是时候开始问这个问题了。

翻译自: https://medium.com/descripter/when-the-planet-becomes-a-computer-5eedf09d831d

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