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by msiyer 1954 days ago
If we agree that a picture is worth 1000 words, then...

Given the current state of information technology, I agree that we are most efficient at processing text. However, that can change pretty quickly. Storage mechanisms similar to DNA can make the difference between text and multimedia irrelevant. It will happen because nature already does that.

2 comments

Pictures are worth a 1000 words, but that comparison holds when a human with context is interpreting the picture.

Our eyes have the ability to input so much information which is what makes pictures valuable.

If you simply need to transmit small/simple data then text is the way to go.

I get what the author is trying to communicate, but it seems a bit arrogant

Storage hasnt really been the bottleneck for a long time. A terabyte stores a lot of pictures.
I am talking about efficient use of available space. A terabyte may store a lot of pictures, but if we can achieve the data density of DNA, we may be able to process (store, transmit, transform...) far more amount of data far more quickly. Then text vs multimedia will become irrelevant.