a new numbering system coming out of the Johns Hopkins applied science department. Apparently in this new system addition works the same as at present, but they have figured out how to benefit from economies of scale when doing multiplication. For example, if you just add two 3’s together you still get 6, but if you are adding five of them together you can do it efficiently enough to actually get 16. And when you begin to add dozens or even hundreds of some number together the improvement in the results compared to the old system can be dramatic.
Word is that the US Department of Defense has been one of the early adopters. Whereas they were previously only able to state that they had a million times more nuclear weaponry than would be necessary to destroy all life on the planet, with the new number system they have calculated they have over six billion times overkill. Even assuming no new production of bombs and the continuation of exponential population growth they should be able to retain the power to destroy the entire world once for each human being alive for the next 20-25 year.