Definitely an interesting writing style. Wasn't expecting to learn that the internet "weighs" about as much as an apple.
The amount of analogies/comparisons used in this article is incredible. I almost think it would be easier for the average non-tech reader to understand if they compared it to something more directly relatable, like the power lines that deliver electricity to your house.
I wonder how much "weight" of electricity I consume per year.
> Wasn't expecting to learn that the internet "weighs" about as much as an apple.
Something doesn't make sense here. An electron is 1/2000th the mass of a proton. So 1/2000th of the mass of your hard disk is its electrons. So they're saying the entire internet runs on thousands of hard disks? That seems off by several orders of magnitude... what are they measuring?
Is it just me or does this page render improperly in Firefox while appearing correct on Chrome. Interestingly, the homepage looks correct in both browsers but the layout for the story pages are wonky in Firefox.
Using 132.0.2 (64-bit) on Arch Linux and I think the layout and everything else is rendering perfectly fine? Try disabling addons/extensions and/or use a private window, sometimes removal of ads can shift things around.
Here is the map for the curious: https://www.submarinecablemap.com
As always, Neal Stephenson's Mother Earth Mother Board from 1996 is the must-read classic of this subject.
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
Definitely an interesting writing style. Wasn't expecting to learn that the internet "weighs" about as much as an apple.
The amount of analogies/comparisons used in this article is incredible. I almost think it would be easier for the average non-tech reader to understand if they compared it to something more directly relatable, like the power lines that deliver electricity to your house.
I wonder how much "weight" of electricity I consume per year.
> Wasn't expecting to learn that the internet "weighs" about as much as an apple.
Something doesn't make sense here. An electron is 1/2000th the mass of a proton. So 1/2000th of the mass of your hard disk is its electrons. So they're saying the entire internet runs on thousands of hard disks? That seems off by several orders of magnitude... what are they measuring?
Only some of those electrons can move freely.
Is it just me or does this page render improperly in Firefox while appearing correct on Chrome. Interestingly, the homepage looks correct in both browsers but the layout for the story pages are wonky in Firefox.
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Firefox 132.0.1 (64-bit)
Chrome 131.0.6778.85 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Fedora 41, KDE Plasma 6.2.3, AMD64
Using 132.0.2 (64-bit) on Arch Linux and I think the layout and everything else is rendering perfectly fine? Try disabling addons/extensions and/or use a private window, sometimes removal of ads can shift things around.