From: gtoal@an-teallach.com (Graham Toal)
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 12:24:49 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Bandwidth limitations
Message-ID: <7472@an-teallach.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In article <9311121650.AA03375@snark.lehman.com> pmetzger@lehman.com writes:
 > The human genome fits nicely in 1GB. Mere Gigabit networks could allow
 > you to send your whole genome in seconds -- and fiber can do many
 > orders of magnitude better than that.
 > 
 > A complete MRI scan can be sent on a gigabit network in mere moments,
 > too, and again, fiber can do far better than that.
 > 
 > If you can send a thousand video signals down your fiber at once,
 > sending complete plans for a factory to build Fords, and the complete
 > plans for the cars, will likely take a wink of an eye.

Perry, I did understand your remark; I don't think you got the point
of mine; give me a fiber and a computer fast enough to use it and
sufficient disk space, and trust me, I'll find something to fill it
with.  Capacity increases to fill the available bandwidth/disk space/
whatever.  Just because you don't have the imagination to think of
how we'll use an essentially new medium in the future, don't write
it off already.

Here's one suggestion that is quite sensible given vast resources: 
instead of linear TV, we have parallel TV.  I don't mean dial-on-demand
download a program - I mean every single program ever made and every
single movie ever made are broadcast down fiber simultaneously; - you
want to see the 59th episode of Star Trek, you switch to the 59th
episode of Star Trek channel, where it's going round and round as
fast as it can be transmitted.

Now, you do the sums.  How much fiber does *that* need?  (When you've
done that one, add on the volume of transmitting a high-res scan of
every page of every book in the world...)

This may seem like an outrageous or stupid application *at the moment*,
but I guess the guy at Manchester in the 50's who thought his computer
would be enough to satisfy the needs of all our Universities over here
would have thought that using the entire resources of his 64K giant machine
to play Pacman on was totally insane, yet only 30 years later the same
power was available in hand-held toys costing $20.

G
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