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Lawnmower Man
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Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ pixels of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ pixels.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

This is assuming a “pixel” is merely on/off (the simplest expression of visual data). More information could be recorded about what each micrometer eye “sees”.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15$139 \times 10^{15}$ (everything) to 136 x 10^12$136 \times 10^{12}$ (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15$400 \times 10^{15}$ "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43$1,600 \times 10^{43}$.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25$1,600 \times 10^{25}$ cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8$11 \times 10^8$ meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16$1,600 \times 10^{16}$ cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ pixels of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ pixels.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

This is assuming a “pixel” is merely on/off (the simplest expression of visual data). More information could be recorded about what each micrometer eye “sees”.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ pixels of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ pixels.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

This is assuming a “pixel” is merely on/off (the simplest expression of visual data). More information could be recorded about what each micrometer eye “sees”.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between $139 \times 10^{15}$ (everything) to $136 \times 10^{12}$ (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around $400 \times 10^{15}$ "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is $1,600 \times 10^{43}$.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be $1,600 \times 10^{25}$ cubic meters. Or $11 \times 10^8$ meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size ($1,600 \times 10^{16}$ cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

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James McLellan
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Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ bitspixels of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bitspixels.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

This is assuming a “pixel” is merely on/off (the simplest expression of visual data). More information could be recorded about what each micrometer eye “sees”.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ bits of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ pixels of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ pixels.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

This is assuming a “pixel” is merely on/off (the simplest expression of visual data). More information could be recorded about what each micrometer eye “sees”.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

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James McLellan
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Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ bits of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 millionbillion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ bits of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 million years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

Sensor Input Calculation

The Earth is 6,371 kilometers in radius, and has another 100 kilometers of atmosphere (6,471 km total). Converted into pixels of information every micrometer $1 \times 10^{-6}$ meters, that is 6,471 km = 6.471 million ($10^6$) meters = 6.471 trillion ($10^{12}$) micrometers.

The volume of a sphere is ${4 \over 3} \pi r^3$. For the whole Earth, then, each "frame" of information is $8.64 \times 10^{38}$ bits of information.

If just the surface area of Earth : $4 \pi r^2 d$ = $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits.

Brain Size

Presuming it uses storage space with the same efficiency as a human brain

A small frame challenge here. Human brains aren't designed to store raw information. The human brain composes raw input into symbols (leaving a lot of detail on the cutting room floor), and further composes those symbols into context, and so on. Memorizing a specific sequence of details (think of the seven digits in your phone number) requires a great deal of effort.

Let's say, then, that this is not a human brain; but rather some design better suited for the job of recording exact details, like a holographic media. The media can handle 8.5 TB ($1 \times 10^{12}$) bytes of information per 4 inch x 4 inch x 1 millimeter (guess on depth) layer = 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.01 cm $\rightarrow$ 0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.0001 m ... or 8.5 $\times 10^{18}$ "pixels" per cubic meter.

All of History

The rest comes down to recording rate and history. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and most folks seem to agree that life started 4.4 billion years ago. There are 31 million seconds in a year. So, total number of seconds being recorded is between 139 x 10^15 (everything) to 136 x 10^12 (just life). If you use a semi-awake human's alpha wave frequency of 4 hertz (4 samples per second), you will need around 400 x 10^15 "frames" of information for your whole data record. Each frame will contain $4.32 \times 10^{28}$ bits of information. So, the size of the entire record is 1,600 x 10^43.

Taking the "brain" data density, your brain would need to be 1,600 x 10^25 cubic meters. Or 11 x 10^8 meters (or a cube 1.1 million kilometers on a side) to hold the data. Compare to the Earth's radius of 6,000 kilometers; it would be 183 Earths.

it has the ability to see and be cognizant of everything happening on every square micrometer of planet earth

Another small frame challenge : if you were to switch the scale from micrometer to millimeter (still very small), you would trim 9 zeros off the final answer, above. This would give you a less-than-Earth size final brain size (1,600 x 10^16 cubic meters or about 1,100 kilometers on a side)

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James McLellan
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James McLellan
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