  Currently we produce 10 to power 21 digital bits of information annually on
Earth. Assuming 20 percent annual growth rate, we estimate that 350 years from
now, the number of bits produced will exceed the number of all atoms on Earth,
or 10 to power 50. After 250 years, the power required to sustain this digital
production will exceed 18.5 TW, or the total planetary power consumption today,
and 500 years from now the digital content will account for more than half of
the Earths mass, according to the mass energy information equivalence
principle. Besides the existing global challenges such as climate, environment,
population, food, health, energy and security, our estimates here point to
another singularity event for our planet, called the Information Catastrophe.
