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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson

Molecule Matrix  
  Storing information in individual molecules and atoms.  

Maybe the ultimate information storage system?

"It is theoretically possible to have a matrix in which each individual molecule has a meaning - as they do in the memory cells of your brain. If we had such subtlety, we could wrap your Encyclopedia Britannica into the head of a pin - it would be the head of that pin..."
Technovelgy from Between Planets, by Robert Heinlein.
Published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1951
Additional resources -

I remember seeing an early memory core at the University of Michigan (it's also an early memory for me - this was about 1965). It looked like tiny washers strung in columns and rows; it formed a cube.

This takes that "matrix" idea to it's logical endpoint - a matrix of atoms or molecules.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Between Planets
  More Ideas and Technology by Robert Heinlein
  Tech news articles related to Between Planets
  Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein

Molecule Matrix-related news articles:
  - IBM Stores Information On A Single Molecule
  - Single Atom Quantum Memory
  - IBM Now Stores 1 Bit On 12 Atoms
  - Functional Transistor Is One Atom
  - Storing 1 Zettabyte In 10 Grams
  - Store One Bit On One Atom

Articles related to Data Storage
Lonestar Offers Lunar Storage For Ultimate In Security
100X Improvement In DNA Information Storage
Twist Bioscience High Density Digital Data On DNA
Store One Bit On One Atom

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