Quick Take | Net weight

A modest attempt in the thought experiment of quantifying the intangible

Thousands of miles of cable connectivity amounts to 50 grams (Photo | Pexels)

The internet drives modern life. But what does it weigh? Moving and storing data through cyberspace requires energy, which Einstein demonstrated has mass, so in theory, it is possible to calculate the internet’s weight. Harvard physicist Russell Seitz did so, claiming the internet, in terms of the mass of electrons in motion, has the weight of a strawberry. Around 50 grams. Obviously, it is a thought experiment to quantify the intangible. Imagine what it takes to run the strawberry—tonnes of equipment and miles of cables across vast data centres. It’s a sobering thought as the world currently considers how not to get weighed down by another intangible, synthetic intelligence at the AI Summit.