Wait, why does it multiply by 4? (apparently addition takes precedence over bitwise operations)

That’s not how exponential growth works. A ×10 increase in 1.2 years implies a ×10¹⁰ increase in 12 years. According to these numbers it should be ×10 in 6 years which roughly aligns with the end of the decade.

Actually void* just points to anything, with no regard to the type of that thing. Pointing to the void is more accurately described by NULL pointer.