How much does the internet weigh?

In these posts I try to tie current events and discussions into the world of start ups and micro entrepreneurship.

I like Discover Magazine a lot. It's a very good overview of science, technology and the future as their tagline says.

Last month Discover put out a special issue called "The Invisible Planet: The Science We Don't See." The lead article asked the question, "How Much Does The Internet Weigh?"

As micro entrepreneurs, you and I probably won't invent the next internet. However, it's interesting to ponder how much impact seemingly tiny contributions can make on the world.

The weight of your entrepreneurial contribution may seem small to others, but it can be world changing for you and the people who will benefit by it.

Beginning something big shouldn't be measured by marble facades or employee counts. The impact you make is what's important.

Ready for the weight of the internet? Here's Discover's measured conclusion…

"The weight of the Internet adds up to just about 0.2 millionths of an ounce."

"Love letters, business contracts, holiday snaps, spam, petitions, emergency bulletins, pornography, wedding announcements, TV shows, news articles, vacation plans, home movies, press releases, celebrity Web pages, home movies, secrets of every stripe, military orders, music, newsletters, confessions, congratulations—every shade and aspect of human life encoded as 1s and 0s. Taken together, they weigh roughly the same as the smallest possible grain of sand one measuring just two-thousandths of an inch across.

William Blake’s famous poem Auguries of Innocence (1803) begins, 'To see a world in a grain of sand....' He was being more prophetic than he could have ever known."

Press on friend. Measure yourself by your own goals and standards and you can change the world.



How Much Does The Internet Weigh Discover Magazine, special issue May 2007