Ken's Corner
But where is it?
As you might have noticed, the Internet is big. Really big.
Just about anything you might have a question about, the answer is just a web browse away. How big is a whale’s brain? The sperm whale’s brain can grow up to 20 pounds (almost seven times the size of your brain). Who invented the computer processor? A team of engineers at Intel, specifically Federico Faggin, Marcian “Ted” Hoff, and Stanley Mazor created the Intel 4004 in 1971.
Every once in a while, someone will ask one of the two biggest questions: “How big is the Internet,” and “Where is it?” Easy questions with some not so easy answers.
Let’s start with the “How big?” In order to answer that question, we have to come up with the meaning of a new term: the zettabyte. A zettabyte is the equivalent of 1 trillion gigabytes. To put that into perspective, the standard home computer has storage averaging 512 gigabytes. To store a single zettabyte, you would need nearly two billion computers with completely different data on each one; approximately one computer for every four men, women, and children on the planet (Earth’s current population is estimated at 8.2 billion people – www.worldometers.info).
Except there’s not just one zettabyte of data on the Internet. Estimates vary, but the current number is as high as 200 zettabytes of data; enough for fifty computers per person (Reputable numbers actually place the current total at around 175 zettabytes – healthit.com.au).
About 85% of Americans report using the Internet daily. The total amount of data used worldwide for daily browsing? 0.04 zettabytes.
Masswise, the number is a lot smaller. As hard as it is to imagine, the Internet also has weight. One would think 175 zettabytes may weigh a lot, but data and the energy it takes to power it is very light; in fact, roughly about 50 grams (a couple of strawberries worth. – www.wired.com).
So where is it? To be honest, it’s everywhere. Information is stored in data centers around the world with no one central location. This way, it’s difficult to severely limit the Internet due to shutdowns, natural disasters, or other occurrences.
How many data centers are there? Over 500,000 exist around the world, with some of them being huge structures with millions of servers owned by tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook(!). All of that free information at your fingertips costs a lot of money: Estimated costs for data center spending for 2023 were more than $200 billion. Energy-wise, it’s estimated data storage uses 1 percent of the world’s energy consumption (aii.org).
As you can see, a lot of power, money, and data go into making it possible to browse the web; and with the web growing every day, those numbers will continue to grow. So the next time your significant other complains about how much time you spend browsing for that recipe for Jamaican Jerk Rabbit (www.ozfishandgame.com), remind them you’re helping the economy as you go.
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