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impossible question
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Posted by: Jimmi
Me and my friend were thinking of an interesting question, and couldn't find the answer. Maybe you could help: What is the total size of all space taken up by every file in the world. We were thinking about this becasue we wanted the know the largest unit for measuring space which we found out was a yottabyte - 2^80 bytes. We couldn't find a use for this outrageously large ammount, so we thought it could be used to measure the above question. What do you think?
This is a useful site: http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/tek1/how_big.htm
Posted by: laborat
It is an interesting question...and you gotta love "yottabyte" as a word as well as a unit of measure. I haven't a clue what the answer would be. But I do have a few ideas on what the question should really be for the answer you are looking for. I also have a few feeble attempts at guesses on how to not to find answers if you want a laugh. Since you are new, it's fair to say that laborat's game is for you to separate the ideas from the guesses. If you feel I have taken things off topic, I apologize in advance and will buy the house a round of "cheese puff fizzies"
(I believe this is the topic)
"What is the total size of all space taken up by every file in the world?" --Jimmi
(First let's see if the question fits the circumstance...)
I wonder if, whether, by saying "all space", you mean the subtraction of file volume from space as an infinite measure. The distinction is important in my view for I personally see infinity as a non-extractable measure. i.e. if we were to subtract from infinity it would no longer be infinite but finite!
What defines a file? Size? like in bytes or yottabytes? Here is a question that comes to mind, "If you erased a yottabyte of files from "all space" would it remain defined as a "yottabyte of files erased" or revert back to a non-definable "all space"? Again the distinctions are important. Are you with me?
So I would have to know first how you are viewing files or yottabytes and as what. Does a file or yottabyte have measurable diminsion? Is the measure arbitraryor fixed?
Here is how I rephrased it to myself, as I was attempting to fully understand what you were saying; "How much in file volume was taken away from "all space", when both file volume and space are measurably unknown."
Can this volume be measured? And If so, what is the measure of space?
Even that explanation of your question to myself makes myself wonder if I truely understand your question. A emotional leap for me from there would be to question if you truely understand your question, but we won't linger there. It may bring up issues.
(I believe this is on topic)
"We couldn't find a use for this outrageously large ammount, so we thought it could be used to measure the above question -- jimmi and friends"
If I were to bite my tongue and not tell you how to spell "amount", or be forced to defend myself from some variant spelling like "ammount" that some wag would remind me of, I would be hazarding another feeble attempt at a bad guess. Which is okay, since many branches of physics only deal with theories that may or may not ,in actuality, be fact. Ideas and guesses share the same DNA.
I would then; perhaps cynically, perhaps not, say, that there is already an existant measure in place. Yottabyte! You said so yourself. I am assuming you didn't invent the word yourself. Did you? If not, then...Somebody had to come up with "yottabyte". If the equation is there then surely it was found, created, re-invented then matched, as a result of someone else's need to measure space by fixed units of measure of whatever ilk or name. On a side note: I think we should have a unit of measure named for George Plimpton. Plimptonbyte. it also rolls off the tongue and sounds like something you would use as a unit of measure.
It's not even that I don't feel "yottabyte" couldn't handle being one measure to one culture and one to another. I can. If your quest is a success for a measure of space in yottabytes and I am in truth right about there already being a definition in place for "yottabyte" then it will have to serve double duty. It's not like we don't have precedent, after all we slough through and between measures that say both miles and meters everyday in our daily lives.
I do look forward to someone answering your question in a following post. It is measurably more interesting than the usual, "How many beers can you chug?" type polls we seem to attract in the summertime. We have some people on here who only speak in numbers. They don't date much. They also sit around in dark rooms and think of wierd possibilities and outcomes. They giggle all night over imaginary number jokes. They might take an interest in answering your question.
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