Researchers at Southamton University in the UK have developed the technique of storing data digitally using laser light. 360 terabytes of information can fit on one sliver of nanostructured quartz. With this tech, we can store literally the whole of human history. Basically, it's a 5D storage device, or more precisely a quartz coin that can store 360TB of data for 14 billion years. The storage system, in addition to being long lasting, is also pretty safe—the quartz can withstand up to 157 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). http://futurism.com/memory-that-las...can-store-360tb-of-data-for-14-billion-years/
I wonder how many bites equates to human consciousness plus memory? How many 'humans' could be stored in that small coin?
We can do a quick calculation. There are 100 billion neurons in the brain. Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 other neurons, passing signals to each other via as many as 1,000 trillion synaptic connections, equivalent by some estimates to a computer with a 1 trillion bit per second processor. Estimates of the human brain’s memory capacity vary wildly from 1 to 1,000 terabytes (for comparison, the 19 million volumes in the US Library of Congress represents about 10 terabytes of data). The answer is three coins would be needed to be equivalent to the upper estimates of the human brain storage. The processing speed of the brain is about 300 times faster than top desktop processors clocked at 3.0 GHz. The above estimates may be low. We often forget that nearly all the cells of the human body have a connection to nerve tissue. There are 760 trillion cells in the body, with each cell connected to nerve tissue, sending information to the brain, via the nervous system, in real time. The brain has a huge external hard drive; ganglions and nerve junctions that store and reflect cell data.
