The physical internet
Where the internet lives
Users of the internet can ignore its physical underpinnings. But for technologies like artificial intelligence and the metaverse to work, others need to pay attention, argues Abby Bertics
- The foundations of the cloud: Users of the internet need not think about its physical underpinnings
- Towers of glass and steel: Advances in physical storage and retrieval made the cloud possible
- The edge of tomorrow: The internet got better and faster by moving data closer to users
- The internet and climate change: Data centres improved greatly in energy efficiency as they grew massively larger
- Politics: The physical borders of the digital world
- Starlink: Satellites offer an important alternative to the wired internet
- Securing the cloud’s future: The internet is integrated into virtually every aspect of life
- The physical internet: Sources and acknowledgments
The foundations of the cloud
Users of the internet need not think about its physical underpinnings
But for technologies like artificial intelligence and the metaverse to work, others will have to, argues Abby Bertics
Towers of glass and steel
Advances in physical storage and retrieval made the cloud possible
But more progress is needed to sustain it
The edge of tomorrow
The internet got better and faster by moving data closer to users
Now the same must happen with computing power
The internet and climate change
Data centres improved greatly in energy efficiency as they grew massively larger
But can this continue into the age of AI?
Politics
The physical borders of the digital world
To remain geopolitically robust as it gets more potent, the internet will need more diverse interconnections
Starlink
Satellites offer an important alternative to the wired internet
But most of them will be owned by billionaires with their own interests
Securing the cloud’s future
The internet is integrated into virtually every aspect of life
It needs to be kept secure, and kept growing
Previous report
Longevity
In search of forever
Slowing, let alone reversing, the process of ageing was once alchemical fantasy. Now it is a subject of serious research and investment, Geoffrey Carr reports
- In search of forever: Slowing human ageing is now the subject of serious research
- Don’t be greedy: Eating fewer calories can ward off ageing
- Out with the old: Ageing bodies need to get rid of decrepit cells
- Of bowheads and borzois: Alternatives to the laboratory mouse
- You can’t have everything: Older genomes have more dodgy genes
- Give us the tools: Fighting ageing requires properly equipped cells
- Blood and guts: What the young can give to the old
- A design for living: Some claim human lifespans can be lengthened indefinitely