[LINK] Hard disk storage: 8 GB costs as much as a roll of toilet paper

[grove at zeta.org.au]

On Sun, 25 Apr 2010, Robin Whittle wrote:

> Cost reductions and performance improvements continue remorselessly
> in the hard drive field.  This chart:
>
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hard_drive_capacity_over_time.svg
>
> indicates 10^5 improvement in 3 decades - nearly 50% improvement per
> annum.
>
> Rather then track IT cost-effectiveness increases in dollars, I think
> it is interesting to use other units, such as the price of a
> toothbrush or a good apple.
>
>  Western Digital USB 2.0 1 terabyte hard drive       $95.00
>  Tork Advanced Toilet Rolls T4 16 pack               $11.98
>
> For the price of a roll of toilet paper we can get 8 gigabytes of
> hard disk storage.

I believe that technology treated like a commodity viewed through data 
like this is not sustainable.   The cost of production and release of 
these products has hidden costs and effects in ways which are probably 
unimaginable.  I made a prediction a few years ago that rare minerals used 
in chip production would start to dry up and costs would soar.  Apparently 
this is already starting to happen.  So where are they getting cheap 
resources to produce such fine hardware?   Is it coming from the millions 
of recycled mobile phones?   Or out of an African mine run by Chinese
  interests?

I am amazed every time I see technology becoming so cheap and commodotised,
disposable and ephemeral,  but I worry that it's all going to be grey 
goo eventually, we will not be able recycle anymore......and become 
frighteningly expensive to maintain a lifestyle dependant on such things...


rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove at zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
    "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum." - Finagle's Law