The Sum of Human Knowledge

When we compare the sum of human knowledge today with what it was just 100 years ago, we are sometimes tempted to think that we are advanced. 

 

Collectively, we have accumulated a great deal of information in recent years. 

 

The internet represents the amazing breath of human knowledge. According to current estimates, the web is just over 1 million exabytes in size. An exabyte is 1 billion billion bytes. A byte is a data unit comprising 8 bits, and is roughly equal to a single character of text. 

 

If you were to download the entire web, it would take approximately 11 trillion years. Of course, not everything on the internet can pass as knowledge. Still, that is a lot of information.

 

But while that knowledge may seem vast beyond comprehension, it is not infinite. It is quite small in fact. According to one telecommunications company, you could store all of that data (every TedTalk, every course syllabus, every Facebook rant, and every cat video) on approximately half a million 2 terabyte hard drives. These hard drives could easily fit into 1,000 8’x10’ rooms or one large 80,000 square feet room. Your local Walmart is around 180,000 square feet. 

 

Imagine that for a moment. The breadth of human knowledge can be stored in a space where you shop for groceries. 

 

Our knowledge is truly vast, but it is the height of arrogance to assume we are approaching any where near the sum of what can be known. God’s knowledge by contrast spans the universe.