Every day, humans produce 2.4 quintillion bytes of data, and this doubles every two years or so at the moment. Most of this is now stored in "the cloud", which might be invisible to us, but is actually in massive data warehouses all around the world. If this continues at this pace until 2060, every single part of the planet will need to be covered by data warehouses.
Of course, we will find ways to store data more efficiently, and to reduce the size of hard drive space. But... add to all of this the energy and water used, and we have a massive problem in the making. One possible solution is to store data in DNA (no... not inside your body, but in DNA stored in controlled conditions).
All of the world's data could be stored in a location the size of a small motor car, using almost no energy, giving off almost no heat, and lasting for 50,000 years before decaying. It sounds like an incredible solution. And it is coming soon.
Further Reading: * Data Centers Are Unsustainable. We Need to Store Data in DNA. https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2022/11/08/data_centers_are_unsustainable_we_need_to_store_data_in_dna_863575.html * DNA storage: https://www.techradar.com/news/dna-data-storage-is-the-most-important-innovation-youve-never-heard-about
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