Related papers: The Information Catastrophe
The presence and action of humans on Earth has exerted a strong influence on the evolution of the planet over the past $\approx$ 10,000 years, the consequences of which are now becoming broadly evident. Despite a deluge of tightly-focused…
AI that can accelerate research could drive a century of technological progress over just a few years. During such a period, new technological or political developments will raise consequential and hard-to-reverse decisions, in rapid…
Exploration of the Universe requires communication with Earth, either on a direct path or through a cascade of proximate celestial bodies. Microwaves have traditionally been used for space communication, but electromagnetic waves of higher…
Green computing represents a critical pathway to decarbonize the digital economy while maintaining technological progress. This article examines how sustainable IT strategies including energy-efficient hardware, AI-optimized data centres,…
Today, data and information have become overabundant resources within a global network of machines that exchange signals at speeds approaching that of light. In this highly saturated environment, communication has emerged as the most…
"How much of the Solar System should we reserve as wilderness, off-limits to human development?" We argue that, as a matter of policy, development should be limited to one eighth, with the remainder set aside. We argue that adopting a "1/8…
The carbon footprint share of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector has steadily increased in the past decade and is predicted to make up as much as 23 \% of global emissions in 2030. This shows a pressing need for…
Social technologies have made it possible to propagate disinformation and manipulate the masses at an unprecedented scale. This is particularly alarming from a security perspective, as humans have proven to be the weakest link when…
The artificial intelligence industry is not an isolated economic phenomenon; it is the current physical substrate for a broader, multi-billion-year process: the evolution of an abstract intelligence on Earth. As the scale of computation…
We consider the physical limitations imposed on the information content of an image by the wave and quantum nature of light, when the image is obtained by illuminating a reflecting or transmitting planar object by natural---i.e., fully…
It is estimated that over one-fourth of US households experienced a power outage in 2023, costing on average US $\$150$ Bn annually, with $87\%$ of outages caused by natural hazards. Indeed, numerous studies have examined the macroeconomic…
Batteries are pivotal for transitioning to a climate-friendly future, leading to a surge in battery research. Scopus (Elsevier) lists 14,388 papers that mention "lithium-ion battery" in 2023 alone, making it infeasible for individuals to…
Age of information (AoI) is one of the key performance metrics for Internet of things (IoT) systems. Timely status updates are essential for many IoT applications; however, they are subject to strict constraints related on the available…
Quantum gravity is often expected to solve both the singularity problem and the information-loss problem of black holes. This article presents an example from loop quantum gravity in which the singularity problem is solved in such a way…
Almost all of the entropy in the universe is in the form of Bekenstein--Hawking (BH) entropy of super-massive black holes. This entropy, if it satisfies Boltzmann's equation $S=\log{\cal N}$, hence represents almost all the accessible phase…
Scientists agree about the urgency of the problem of climate change. Most citizens, however, pay little attention to gradually increasing temperature levels. Growing numbers of natural disasters in the world might then play a fundamental…
In this paper we afford a quantitative analysis of the sustainability of current world population growth in relation to the parallel deforestation process adopting a statistical point of view. We consider a simplified model based on a…
Much of today's sustainability discourse emphasizes efficiency, clean technologies, and smart systems, but largely underestimates fundamental physical constraints relating to energy-matter interactions. These constraints stem from the fact…
Knowledge amount is an integral indicator of the development of society. Humanity produces knowledge in response to challenges from nature and society. Knowledge production depends on population size and human productivity. Productivity is…
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters worldwide. Media coverage of these events may be vital to generate empathy and mobilize global populations to address the common threat posed by climate change.…