Nearly everything we interact with in today’s world is digital, and every application we use without thinking twice about it is dependent upon various types of digital storage technology. With a seeming endless increase in the amount of digital data, there needs to be a solution for storing it all. According to Thomas Coughlin, that solution may be found in synthetic DNA. Coughlin is the president of Coughlin Associates, author of Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics: The Essential Guide, and well-regarded expert in the field of data storage.

He brings over three decades’ worth of data storage industry experience to the discussion today, explaining the future of data storage in a world that’s becoming increasingly digitized. He describes how synthetic DNA has the potential to store 1,000 times more data than current forms of data storage, such as flash memory and hard drives. He also discusses new research that’s exploring unprecedented forms of data storage, commenting that, “There’s enormous creativity that goes in to trying to create new ways in which we, as information processing creatures…can capture and understand the world around us…and I don’t see it ever diminishing. I think it’s just the nature of who we are.”

Neuromorphic computing, brain to electronics interfaces, artificial telepathy, deepfake technology, and the associated legal and ethical implications of these capabilities are just a few of the other topics explored on today’s episode. Don’t miss it—tune in for the full conversation and learn more about Coughlin’s work by visiting tomcoughlin.com.

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