Just how big is the Internet?

I would like to know,how big the supposed carbon footprint of the internet is?

Perhaps we should ban it,and help save our planet!

The interesting thing about running out of IP addresses is what countries it affects. The US has plenty of room for growth, but the lesser developed countries were given very small IP allocations when it was distributed, and are suffering big time.

Yes, IPv6 will fix this issue for a LONG time. NAT was created to post pone the need to merge over, but at the same time, discouraged moving over if you were a country with larger allocations (such as the US). The lesser developed countries are all prepped and ready to go. The big boys are the ones slacking in this issue.

Originally posted by scobro
I would like to know,how big the supposed carbon footprint of the internet is?

Perhaps we should ban it,and help save our planet!

Interesting question...

Maybe the internet itself actually has no carbon footprint, but rather it's created by the machines needed to sustain the internet..

Might sounds like an odd way to look at it, but I think there's something to it.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Thanks for that Arbitrageur, that was really useful

Good perpective on the whole thing! So we can potentially keep growing as much as we need to..


[edit on 27/9/2009 by purehughness]

Aaaahhh man, I've asked an impossible question..

Hate it when I do this..

Originally posted by purehughness
reply to post by xelamental

 

Though a fairly oblique answer, I can see what you're getting at there..

So you reckon the internet could well be infinite?

Maybe by definition it already is... Something that interconnects things to itself, whilst constantly growing all the time could be considered infinite..

Damn the metaphysical nature of the internet!

Note I said once it obtains higher order structure. Think of how evolution essentially creates infinite information out of nothing, simply by the "whatever happens happens" mechanism. Once there becomes a metastructure to the internet, there is by definition more information than we put in, and then things start getting interesting.

I guess in some ways it's already there (viruses/worms/botnets etc)

reply to post by purehughness


I do tend to wonder quite a bit about it, I truly do believe after sitting down and giving it a good bit of thought that it is an entity, maybe not in the traditional sense but it does seem to have the ability to think and connect and even feel in a way, namely if it gets stressed it shuts down... I know if I get over stressed I can freak out and have my own version of a 404 lol

Originally posted by lucentenigma
The consciousness of the entire planet accessible with a keyboard and a screen.

I like that thought. Before the internet was available mainstream I used to wonder what personality the world would have if every single person's consciousness was unified, the internet is the closest thing to that.