Future Is Bright

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Michael shermer, Defying the Doomsayers; Technology has the potential not only to spread over more information but to solve some of humanity's most vexing problems. Wall Street Journal, Feb 22, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 13203698503484.html
(book review on Peter H Diamandis and Steven Kotler, Abundance; The Future is better than you think. Free Press, 2012)

Quote:

"If every image made and every word written from the earliest stirring of civilization to the year 2003 were converted to digital information, the total would come to five exabites. * * * That's a lot of digital data, but it's nothing compared with what happened from 2003 through 2010: We created five exabites of digital information EVERY TWO DAYS. Get ready for what's coming; by next year, we'll be producing five exabites of digital information  every 10 minutes. How much information is that? the total for 2010 of 912 exabites is the equivalent of 18 times the amount of information contained in al the books ever written.


"Accelerating change is happening in many areras, Information; A Masai warrior with a smartphone on Google has access to more information that the president of the United States did just 15 years ago. Technology: Today more people have access to a cellphone than to a toilet. Computing: In 15 years, the average $1,000 laptop is likely to be computing at the rate of the human brain.

"Groceries today cost 13 times less than 150 years ago in inflation-adjusted dollars.

"In short, the standard of living has improved: 95% of Americans now living below the poverty line have not only electricity and running water but also Internet access, a refrigerator and a television--luxuries that Andrew Carnegie's millions couldn't have bought at any price a century ago.

"The biggest hurdles, however, are not scientific or technological but political. There are too many corrupt dictators and backward-looking governments keeping millions in penury. But as we have seen lately [as in Arab Spring], the misruled gave a way of throwing off despotic governments.

Note:
(a) exa: 10 to the power of 18; 10 18
(b) Khan Academyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Academy
(a non-profit educational organization, created in 2006 by Bangladeshi American educator Salman Khan [born in in New Orleans], a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School)
(c) propitious (adj;  Latin propitius, probably from pro- for + petere to seek):
"being a good omen : AUSPICIOUS"
www.m-w.com