Could a Dalek download the Internet in just 22 seconds?
Keywords:
TV programme, Internet, Physics, Data storage, Doctor WhoAbstract
This paper investigates the feasibility of a Dalek, a villain from the popular British Sci-Fi show Doctor Who, being able to download the Internet in just 22 s, as shown in the episode “Dalek”. A number of assumptions were made regarding the size of the surface Internet in the release year of the episode (2005) and the download speeds of both 2005 and also the year the episode was set (2012). The various calculations made, led to the conclusion that the time taken in the episode was far too short, both when using download speeds of 0.27 MBs-1 in 2005 and 3.25 TBs-1 in 2012. The time needed was calculated to be 25,502 years in 2005 and 140 minutes in 2012.
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