每人日接受信息量相當於看174份報紙大綱

From junk emails to annoying adverts, we spend our lives being bombarded with a constant stream of information。

從垃圾郵件到讓人惱火的廣告，我們每天的生活都在遭受各種形形色色信息的狂轟亂炸。

Now scientists have worked out exactly how much data is sent to a typical person in the course of a year。

科學家們計算出了究竟每人每天會接收到的信息量。

They found that mankind broadcasts two quadrillion megabytes - or two followed by 21 zeroes - of information through televisions, radios, newspapers, post and emails every 12 months。

他們發現，在一年中的12個月裏，由兩萬億兆字節的信息會通過電視、廣播、報紙、海報和郵件的方式傳播出去。

That's the equivalent of every person in the world having to read 174 newspapers from cover to cover every single day。

這相當於每人每天將閱讀174份報紙所含有的信息量。

The study also found that the world's libraries, computers, DVD collections and newspapers store a staggering 295trillion megabytes of information - or 295 followed by 18 zeroes。

這項研究還發現，世界上的圖書館、電腦、DDVD和報紙所存貯的數據已高達了兩百九十五萬億兆字節，也就是說295X10的18次冪兆字節之多。

If those 295 'exabytes' of stored information were kept on CD-Roms, the stack of CDs would reach from the Earth to beyond the Moon。

若將之燒製成光碟的話，所有的CD摞起來的高度足以連接地球與月球。

Dr Martin Hilbert of the University of South California, who carried out the study, admits that the numbers involved are too large to comprehend - but that they are dwarfed by nature。

南加利福尼亞州大學的馬丁 希爾伯特博士領導了這項研究，他指出該項數據異常巨大，但與自然相比卻又是九牛一毛。

The 295trillion megabytes of information stored in the whole world is still less than one per cent of the information stored in all the DNA in a single human being, he said。

這兩百九十五萬億兆字節的信息還遠不及人體DNA所含有的信息量。

'These numbers are impressive, but still minuscule compared to the order of magnitude at which nature handles information,' said Dr Hilbert who reveals the figures in the journal Science.'Compared to nature, we are but humble apprentices. However, while the natural world is mind-boggling in its size, it remains fairly constant. In contrast, the world's technological information processing capacities are growing at exponential rates.'

他說：“儘管這樣的數字十分引人注目，但要是和大自然所存儲的信息相比，簡直就是小巫見大巫。”