Bruce Mehlman and Larry Irving exclaim "Bring on the Exaflood!", in their recent Washington Post article. Wikipedia defines the exaflood as "the rapidly increasing torrent of data transmitted over the Internet." Further, the article states that "the amount of information people upload, download and share on the Internet is growing (due in large part to video, audio and photo applications), at an exponential rate while the capacity of the Internet, its bandwidth, is limited and susceptible to a 'flood' of data."

According to Mehlman and Irving, "Electricity reached one-quarter of Americans 46 years after its introduction. Telephones took 35 years and televisions 26 years. Already, in just six years, broadband has reached 25 percent penetration." Additionally, they relate that "The market research firm IDC predicts that this year the amount of information created will surpass, for the first time, the storage capacity available."

Who will continue to insist on controlling such an all-encompassing whorl of data & representation? Who would dare to stand up to such a challenge? Who will continue to pretend that they are still controlling this information, and who will they convince? - UrthBound