EARTH AS A STORAGE DEVICE
This paper deals with the fascinated idea of Earth, our mother planet
turned out into a huge data storage device. This solves the long standing ever
growing data needs and caters to the data storage for all purposes at a very
cheap and easily available resource – the earth. The arrangement of certain
minerals of metals and the phenomenon of ferromagnetism, result in our technological
ability to store data, save information and leave previous versions of the
present behind stored onto some physical medium called a hard disk or a hard
drive.
A hard drive, though, would be an object as much as a technical one; it is a
content-rich, heavily processed re-configuration of the earth's surface. On
& on everything on earth is derived from earth itself.
In this paper, we will
get to know three methods of using earth as a data storage device:
1.
Earth’s
magnetic field
2.
Earth
as a huge hologram
3.
Earth’s
surface
In the first case,
Earth’s magnetic alignment and magnetic fields are used to
Capture and store data. Second case, the concepts of
data storage in a hologram and earth being used as the biggest ever 3D hologram
are combined. Third case assumes earth’s surface containing silicates to store
data.
All
the three cases are practically feasible and require very primitive techniques
of data storage. Practically it has been demonstrated that earth’s holographic
character is found to store data, so also its magnetic field. Now research is
going on to turn earth’s crust and rock beds into storage devices.
INTRODUCTION
What If the Earth Is a
Giant Hard Drive? This question itself is a mystery… once we achieve this never
thought of concept, most of the data storage problems would be solved. Today’s
technological development has resulted in outpour of huge data running billions
of terabytes and none of the available data storage techniques are able to
harness this everlasting problem. So if we could turn out our earth into a hard
disk, this would not only solve the data storage problem but also enhance data
integrity.
All magnetic storage devices read and write data by using electromagnetism. This basic principle of physics states that as an electric current flow through a conductor (wire), a magnetic field is generated around the conductor. Note that electrons actually flow from negative to positive, although we normally think of current flowing in the other direction. The earth is found to have a magnetic field pertaining to its semi-solid Iron core. The earth would become a kind of spherical hard drive, with information stored in those moving webs of magnetic energy that both surround and penetrate its surface. This may also lead to situations wherein whole planets out there, turning in space, actually become the hard drives - spherical data-storage facilities made of content-rich bedrock.
Holographic
data storage is a potential replacement technology in the area of high-capacity
data storage currently dominated by magnetic andconventional optical data storage. The satellite
triangulation can be used to convert our earth into a huge hologram to store
data in manifolds.
It’s
been found that arrangement of certain minerals of metals and the
phenomenon of ferromagnetism can be used to turn out earth’s surface, which is
rich in silicates, as a hard disk. So each inch of ground below us is virtually
an equivalent (or rather a hundred times more) to a normal USB pen drive of say
16 GB capacity. This also hints us to harness the unused hundreds of acres of
barren land to be ploughed to store information- the right use of earth in all
aspects.
Isn’t
the earth already like that? We have fossils and minerals, and records of
various environmental, geological, biological, and universal changes in our history
due to the earth itself.
So
therefore, the earth already is a hard drive, and all matter in the universe is
inscribed with information about its history...
Probably
even at the molecular level!!!
A Brief Background:
This is not an advanced concept of years to come. It already exists!!!
In India Yogis have already found that planets in the solar system actually work as memory devices and different planets storing different data and the receivers and transmitters exist in human body. This they called it as Akasa the sky records which stores everything the humans experience and transfers to next lives. In fact everything we experience is not stored in brain and brain actually works as a converter, transmitter and receiver of data collecting from different hubs in body called Pranic Chakras. The Chakras work on Prana the cosmic energy (unified energy) the scientists are trying to find now. The astrology in India is so developed and authenticates the existence of it and an experienced astrologer can exactly tell you what exactly you did last minute and what you are going to do next minute.
Even
Egyptians, in constructing pyramids kept a thorough knowledge of earth’s
magnetic field alignments. The pyramid was so designed that it acted like a
magnetic volcano. Whether it was done so to store data is arguable, but the
ancient knew to harness geomagnetism.
Ice glaciers
record climate data which can be read through ice cores. The various pores of
layers of earth’s soil also records various happenings of time. But this is all
analog information. Once digital storage is realized, our problem is done and
we’d arrive at our solution.
WORKING:
Hard Disk Drives
record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent
either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the
magnetization of the material. A pair of laser beams is used to write data into
discs of light-sensitive plastic, with both aiming at the same spot. One beam
shines continuously, while the other pulses on and off to encode patches that
represent digital 0s and 1s.
This analogy can be applied to earth to turn it into a hard drive. Some vast and slow-moving machine, that moves over exposed faces of bedrock of earth and “encodes" that geological formation with data. This would be used to inscribe information into the planet.
This analogy can be applied to earth to turn it into a hard drive. Some vast and slow-moving machine, that moves over exposed faces of bedrock of earth and “encodes" that geological formation with data. This would be used to inscribe information into the planet.
Here is an example for this fantastic idea….
In the recent
biography of Sir Christopher Wren – whose towers, domes and steeples appear in
the image above – Lisa Jardine describes how she discovered that the London
Monument, designed in 1677 by Wren and Robert Hooke together, is actually
"a unique, hugely ambitious, vastly oversized scientific instrument"
that uses "strategically placed vents and vantage points" to function
as a multi-purpose observation deck and lab for measuring atmospheric pressure.
Those buried urban
routes, with all their circuits linked and cross-connected into electrically
mechanized networks that passed through mineral deposits and solid bedrock –
including the various branches of late-night service
That maintained more or less perpetual motion,
humming and soaring through manmade canyons beneath parks and plazas and
apartment blocks, as if to imply that the global geotechnical industry had been
taken over by Athanasius Kircher.
As a sail traps the
wind, a *planetary hard drive* would use geomagnetism.
Provided constant motion on behalf of the trains, I thought, and given absolutely gigantic magnets of the right polarity and location, Berlin could start producing its own magnetic field – which meant that any city with a subway could be transformed into a hard drive. Hard drive London, Hard drive Beijing. Hard drive Moscow.
Provided constant motion on behalf of the trains, I thought, and given absolutely gigantic magnets of the right polarity and location, Berlin could start producing its own magnetic field – which meant that any city with a subway could be transformed into a hard drive. Hard drive London, Hard drive Beijing. Hard drive Moscow.
THE AMOUNT
OF DATA THAT CAN BE STORED………
The very newest drives are putting 500G on a 3
1/2" disk.
That is a radius of 1.75"
The total area is pi * 1.75 sq = 9.62 sq-in
The area of the 1" disk hub is pi * .5 sq = 0.79 sq-in
The writeable magnetic area is 9.62 - 0.79 = 8.83 sq-in
That is a radius of 1.75"
The total area is pi * 1.75 sq = 9.62 sq-in
The area of the 1" disk hub is pi * .5 sq = 0.79 sq-in
The writeable magnetic area is 9.62 - 0.79 = 8.83 sq-in
The area of the Earth in square miles is 197 million.
There are (12 x 5280)**2 square inches in one square mile.
This equals 12 x 12 x 5280 x 5280 or 4.01 billion square inches.
Multiply the two - 1.97 x 108 x 4.01 x 109 = 7.9 x 1017 square inches on the entire surface of the Earth.
The surface of area of habitable land is
significantly less. There are clearly no more than 49 million square miles of
such land.
This amounts to 4.9 x 10^7 x 4.01 x 10^9 = 1.96 x 10^17 square inches.
This amounts to 4.9 x 10^7 x 4.01 x 10^9 = 1.96 x 10^17 square inches.
So figure a bit on a disk drive (assuming a 1:1
aspect ratio, and no error correction, which is wrong)
8.83 sq-in / 500 x 10^9 bits = 1.766 x 10^-11 in-sq/bit
8.83 sq-in / 500 x 10^9 bits = 1.766 x 10^-11 in-sq/bit
The ratio of the area of a disk to the ratio of the
earth is:
1.96 x 10^17 sq-in : 8.83 sq-in = 2.2x10^16
1.96 x 10^17 sq-in : 8.83 sq-in = 2.2x10^16
So a bit mapped to the surface of the earth would
be:
1.766 x 10^-11 sq-in * 2.2x10^16 = 388520 sq-in
- or - 2698 square feet
1.766 x 10^-11 sq-in * 2.2x10^16 = 388520 sq-in
- or - 2698 square feet
So the trick would be to magnetize domains, roughly
the size of a my house, in the iron rich upper mantle.
Doing this through the several miles of crust would take a huge field.
It would take some sort of rolling barge sized power plant to work as read/write heads, and would be really slow data access.
Be much easier with the crust and lithosphere removed.
Doing this through the several miles of crust would take a huge field.
It would take some sort of rolling barge sized power plant to work as read/write heads, and would be really slow data access.
Be much easier with the crust and lithosphere removed.
FUTURE PROSPECTS:
Perhaps in future we may not require
any hard drives!!! This extends yet further into an idea that perhaps whole
planets out there, turning in space, are actually the hard drives of an
intelligent species we otherwise have yet to encounter – like mnemonic Death
Stars, they are spherical data-storage facilities made of content-rich bedrock
– or, perhaps more interestingly, we might even yet discover, in some weird version
that the earth itself is already encoded with someone else's data, and that,
down there in crystal formations of rock, crystalline archives shimmer.
ADVANTAGES:
Data storage becomes cheap
Data storage becomes cheap
There would be no more
spending on data recovery as data failure is ruled out
This opens doors for yet another technological revolution
This opens doors for yet another technological revolution
Data integrity will be
retained
Data transfer also
becomes very easy as earth is available everywhere and is always connected
It is also eco
friendly technique as hard disk related manufacturing is ruled out that
otherwise involved release of several harmful chemicals.
E-wastes would be
reduced
DISADVANTAGES:
Data access control is
ruled out
Magnetic fields are
always fluctuating and are interfered every now & then by sun’s magnetic
field.So data would be always at risk if no special care is taken
There is no way to
align earth’s magnetic field in a single direction throughout which prevents us
from storing data along different locations
Most of the Earth is
above the Curie temperature ~500degC, so permanent magnetization is not
possible. The Earth's main magnetic field is created by a self-exciting dynamo
in the earth's liquid outer core.
CONCLUSION:
The earth is a million
year old computer tasked with finding the ultimate question of life, the
universe and everything. Of course it has a lot of storage potential; you need
a lot of space to store all the information of the universe. But wait... what
if this has already been done? We just need to figure out how to read the
information that is on there right now.
And this is only
possible only if scientist community acts accordingly in this direction,
instead of wasting billions of dollars searching for vague alternatives that
don’t even carry much weight when the question is with regard to data integrity
and its storage in particular.
The already existing
satellite network or grid that has encompassed the earth in totality almost can
in turn be used to envelope earth into a huge hologram to capture bytes and
bytes of data of unimaginably high orders
Even people of all
realms must follow common ethics and contribute their will and help to enhance
the golden treasure of science. This can be done by simply being away from
unethical acts of data stealing and information insecurity – the ruiner of the
present ever-spanning technological overflow.
This also leaves us unanswered to questions like
what if some aliens are already using earth or for that any other heavenly body
as a storage device.
A lot of development
needs to be done in the field of communication, to conceal these unexplored and
unimaginable facts that not only may solve many globally serious issues but
also might give a real meaning to humanity itself.
