The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information

TLDR

The study estimated the world’s technological capacity to store, communicate, and compute information by tracking 60 analog and digital technologies from 1986 to 2007. The authors quantified this capacity by monitoring 60 analog and digital technologies over the 1986–2007 period. By 2007 humanity could store 2.9 × 10²⁰ optimally compressed bytes, transmit nearly 2 × 10²¹ bytes, and perform 6.4 × 10¹⁸ instructions per second, with general‑purpose computing growing at 58 % per year, telecommunication at 28 % per year, stored information at 23 % per year, broadcasting at 6 % per year, and digital formats dominating 99.9 % of telecommunication and 94 % of memory.

Abstract

We estimated the world's technological capacity to store, communicate, and compute information, tracking 60 analog and digital technologies during the period from 1986 to 2007. In 2007, humankind was able to store 2.9 × 10(20) optimally compressed bytes, communicate almost 2 × 10(21) bytes, and carry out 6.4 × 10(18) instructions per second on general-purpose computers. General-purpose computing capacity grew at an annual rate of 58%. The world's capacity for bidirectional telecommunication grew at 28% per year, closely followed by the increase in globally stored information (23%). Humankind's capacity for unidirectional information diffusion through broadcasting channels has experienced comparatively modest annual growth (6%). Telecommunication has been dominated by digital technologies since 1990 (99.9% in digital format in 2007), and the majority of our technological memory has been in digital format since the early 2000s (94% digital in 2007).