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The Sum Total of the World's Knowledge: 250 Exabytes

Posted by timothy on from the well-250-exabytes-and-this-article dept.

arkenian writes "The BBC reports on an article in Science about scientists who calculate that the sum of all the world's stored data is 250 exabytes. Perhaps more interestingly, the total amount of data broadcast is 2 zettabytes (1000 exabytes) annually. In theory this means that the sum of the world's knowledge is broadcast 8 times a year, but I bet mostly that's just a lot of American Idol reruns."

2 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. "Stored Data" does not equal "Knowledge" by sgage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nice way to conflate terms for a sensational headline. What a bogus metric. A good chunk of that "stored data" is junk. Probably most of it. Not to mention duplication. (Duplication? I told you not to mention duplication :-)

  2. Re:In conclusion by Surt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    38 Gigabytes per person is enough? I don't think so.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking