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

@article{Hilbert2011TheWT,
  title={The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information},
  author={Martin Hilbert and Priscila L{\'o}pez},
  journal={Science},
  year={2011},
  volume={332},
  pages={60 - 65}
}
An inventory of the world’s technological capacity from 1986 to 2007 reveals the evolution from analog to digital technologies. 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 × 1020 optimally compressed bytes, communicate almost 2 × 1021 bytes, and carry out 6.4 × 1018 instructions per second on general-purpose computers… 
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