Detail map of New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States Overview map of New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

A: New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

Michael Lesk Asks, "How Much Information is There?"

1997

In 1997 Michael Lesk of Rutgers University attempted to calculate "How Much Information is There in the World?" He included information on how much information a human brain may be able to retain.

"How much information is there in the world? This paper makes various estimates and compares the answers with the estimates of disk and tape sales, and size of all human memory. There may be a few thousand petabytes [*] of information all told; and the production of tape and disk will reach that level by the year 2000. So in only a few years, (a) we will be able save everything \- no information will have to be thrown out, and (b) the typical piece of information will never be looked at by a human being..."

Timeline Themes