While this is only a small fraction of the planetary population, it's not a trivial number. If all 12.5 million people sent a spam message on the Internet, the system would be flooded with 156.25 trillion mail messages. While it's unlikely that everyone will send everyone else e-mail at the same time, we'll soon achieve comparable transmission rates if the Internet community doubles in size every two years. However, the Internet, Milnet and other computer-mediated platforms are not the only component of our information infrastructure. We must also include telephones, radio and other electronic communications media, as well as personal briefings, couriers, overland mail and other manual means of exchanging information.
Computer networks are still only a small part of our total infosphere.
Managing the Flood. Let's return from the philosophical to the practical. Infrastructure takes many forms depending on the product you're delivering. Most of us take information delivery for granted, much like how we get water or electricity. A catastrophic event, however, can bring home just how dependent we really are.