Melvin Walpson, a physicist at Portsmouth University in England, is worried about the future of the earth. He believes that although information is intangible, it may be of quality. The "two-way foil" destroyed the solar system, and the "drill bit" invented by human beings may eat the earth.

At present, the total amount of global digital information is about 10 bit, and it is still growing rapidly. 90% of them were produced in the recent 10 year. Assuming that the annual growth rate of digital content is 20%, after 350 years, the total number of "bits" on the earth will be more than the total number of atoms that make up the earth (about 10). In order to maintain the existence of this information, the earth will be gradually "eaten".

In 196 1, physicist Rolf Landauer put forward a viewpoint that since deleting "bits" will generate heat, there should be a correlation between information and energy. In recent years, some scientists are trying to verify whether the Randolph principle is correct through experiments. On the other hand, Watson believes that there is a correlation between information and quality.

His view was influenced by Einstein's mass-energy equation E=mc? The influence of. Einstein's mass-energy equation holds that energy and mass can be transformed into each other. Therefore, Watson believes that if a "bit" has energy, it should also have mass. The result of conversion is that the mass of 1 bit is about one tenth of that of 1 electron.

At present, the total amount of "information quality" produced by human society every year is actually insignificant, which is only equivalent to an Escherichia coli. But if the amount of information increases by 20% every year, in less than 500 years, half the mass of the earth will become "bits". And if this speed is 50%, half the mass of the earth will become "bits" before 2245.

Watson thinks this is a crisis. This is the same crisis as oil crisis, white pollution and forest degradation. Although people may not realize the seriousness of this crisis today, it is slowly devouring the planet bit by bit.

Watson also thinks this conclusion is conservative. According to the report of International Data Corporation, the growth rate of global data volume has actually reached 665,438+0% per year. Therefore, it is entirely possible that disaster will come early. The solution is the need for new data storage technology, which can save information on media without physical entities.