What If We Had to Print the Entire Internet

You get a notification on your phone saying that the Internet will cease to exist in 7 days. You toss your gadget aside and continue watching TV. Suddenly, you see a “breaking news” notification pop up. And the news presenter repeats what you’ve just read in the message! The channel broadcasts live footage of people panicking in the streets and losing their minds.

You look out of the window of your apartment and see people running around carrying their phones and laptops. You go down and try to avoid the chaos by standing in an alleyway. Behind you, someone is mindlessly walking around muttering “no more Internet” over and over. You get a call from an unknown number telling you that you have to meet someone in an unknown location. You open the map on your phone and go there by car.

From the outside, it seems to be an abandoned building. But from the inside, it’s a Hi-Tech facility with scientists in hazmat suits and lab coats. You’ve made it just in time for the briefing. A scientist with gray hair walks into the projector room and begins his presentation.

He explains that these days, there are more than 4 billion people using the Internet. And there’s no way to stop the World Wide Web from crashing. There are more than 74 zettabytes of data online now. A zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes — [7400000...] which is a lot of zeros. A Word document for a gigabyte of data has around 65,000 pages.

So for 74 trillion gigabytes [74×10^12], that’s... far too many zeros for me to say it in one breath. But it’s around 4,810,000 times 1,021 pages. A sheet of A4 paper is 0.004 inches [(0.1 mm)]thick. For every gigabyte, we’ll have 22 ft [(7 m)] of stacked paper.

Everyone zones out halfway through the lecture. But the lab-coat people begin working immediately. You get assigned to help print out the Internet. You take your place in the assembly line along with another hundred people.

It’s your 1st day, and you’re handling a printing press. The entire complex is filled with printers. People are constantly moving back and forth, bringing in paper from trucks. You start off by printing out everything related to health. Then you move on to other crucial documents.

You don’t have time to read anything. You also have to make sure that one document has around 8,000 words. You work from morning till evening; then the night shift takes over. You’re only allowed a lunch break, a total of 20 minutes of stretching, and a visit to the bathroom. Everyone is working mechanically.

The news program in the background shows countries all over the world doing their part of the work. At the opposite end of the facility, there are other teams. They download videos and audio files. After your shift is over, the night staff comes in. You clock out and head home.

You realize that during this day, all the teams around the globe have only covered no more than 1% of the information. Feeling demotivated, you look around. It has been prohibited to create new content unless it’s extremely urgent. Each day can produce so much information that there won’t be time to download it.

You’re back at the assembly line. You didn’t sleep well last night and can’t concentrate. Everyone else around you didn’t have a good night’s sleep either. Right before lunch, some people pass out in their working places and get treated right away.

There are many other people around on standby, ready to take over. You print out the rest of the most important documents. Then you move on to the second-tier data, like articles, blogs, and so on. Your shift has been extended by another 2 hours. You go home exhausted and totally unprepared for the next day.

You arrive at work to see a whole new complex built next door. They’ve apparently built it overnight. You’ve been assigned to the new building. Your task is to print more articles on paper. Your shift has been extended by another hour. You and everyone else are too tired to do anything and can barely keep your eyes open. Just a few days are left, but only 15% of the Internet has been printed.

They’re setting up yet another building with even more printers. It’s close to nighttime, and you’re still working. Finally, the night crew come in and take over, but they don’t let you leave. You’ve been told to stay in a community hall. This way, you can save time by not commuting to work. You’re escorted to the hall you’re going to share with a hundred other people. You try to sleep, but you can’t. You toss and turn, but your eyes remain wide open.

A bell wakes you up. It’s time for a quick breakfast. One by one, people from the night shift head to their community halls. Twenty minutes later, you’re back at the assembly line. With a mere 3 days left, they’re pushing you even more. You look outside and see that even more buildings have sprung out of nowhere. Trucks filled with paper are driving back and forth, causing traffic jams.

An underground bunker has been constructed in the Sahara Desert. It stretches for miles and is large enough to store all the documents and records. The trucks carry a few tons of paper each. Then planes transport this precious cargo to the Sahara Desert.

More and more people can’t handle it and start to fall asleep while standing up. The production slows down, and an emergency bell rings so that more people can take over. But there isn’t enough personnel. Many people are improvising and multitasking. The entire system is outta control. If the production stops for even half an hour, tons of information won’t be printed out! You head to the community hall to have some rest. You see more recruits arrive. There are thousands of people working at the facility now.

You head back to the assembly line and continue printing. But no one is in the mood. The production is slower than it should be — even though there are only two days left. The news shows that people in the streets are still panicking. Many of them are filming themselves. But it’s useless since it won’t be archived.

With the whole world working double time since day one, around 70% of the Internet has been printed. But people are running out of paper! Paper manufacturers can’t keep up with the demand. By the final day, there might not be any paper left.

You feel tremendous pressure. Everyone is nervous. People make mistakes more and more often, which slows the process down. Since the printing machines have been working non-stop for six days, many of them have broken down and got replaced.

This is it. Only several hours are left. You didn’t sleep at all last night. In fact, the whole world was awake, waiting for the countdown to begin. All the important stuff has been printed. All that’s left is more trivial things. And still, even they shouldn’t go to waste. Everyone, including the night crew, is working double time. Paper production companies have found a way to produce more paper just in time.

[12 hours left] Your eyes are closing. Your body is weak. The only thing you crave is your bed. You’re hungry, and your head feels heavy. The video and audio teams have officially finished downloading and backing up everything. Only a few countries still print out the information.

[1 hour left] You’re mechanically clicking print, adjusting the word count, and fixing the margins. You’ve been doing it for such a long time that now, you can do it with your eyes closed. But you jolt up every now and then and try to focus on your work. The whole world tunes in for the end of the Internet. Only 0.5% of data remains unprinted. But you’re minutes away from the Internet shut-down!

3, 2, 1... and the Internet officially doesn’t exist anymore. Instead of causing chaos all over the place, people just quietly stand in the streets. They seem to have accepted the situation. Phones are now only used for calling, texting, and doing some basic stuff.

If anyone wants information, they go to libraries and bookstores. Within the first seven days, the world’s economy plummets. Companies have to find ways to work without the Internet. The banking system has collapsed since everyone has withdrawn their money from their accounts.

No more social media news and hashtags for possibly the most intense moment in history. You breathe out and go back home to the world’s 1st day without the Internet.