Imagine a civilization so advanced it harnesses the energy of entire galaxies. The Kardashev scale, a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement, offers a fascinating lens through which to view potential futures. Let's delve into its intriguing depths.
The Kardashev scale is a hypothetical method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use.
The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kurashev in 1964
- It is hypothetical and regards energy consumption on a cosmic scale
- Various extensions of the scale have been proposed, including a wider range of power levels (types 0, IV to VI) and the use of metrics other than pure power
- Several scientists have conducted various searches for possible civilizations, but without conclusive results
- Two critical perspectives have thus emerged
- One that questions the scale’s postulates, judging them to be incomplete or inconsistent; the other that establishes alternative scales
Stellar engines can be used to move stars
Type III civilizations might use the same techniques employed by a Type II civilization, but applied to all possible stars of one or more galaxies individually
- Capturing the energy of gamma-ray bursts is another theoretically possible power source for a highly advanced civilization
Other proposed changes to the scale include:
Planet mastery (Robert Zubrin): Metrics other than pure power usage have also been proposed.
- Information mastery (Carl Sagan): Alternatively, Carl Sagan suggested adding another dimension in addition to pure energy usage: the information available to the civilization. The information and energy axes are not strictly interdependent so that even a level Z civilization would not need to be Kardashev Type III.
Microdimensional mastery (John Barrow)
Humans have found it more cost-effective to extend their abilities to manipulate their environment over increasingly small scales rather than increasingly large ones.
- Barrow proposes a reverse classification downward from Type I-minus to Type Omega-minus: Type I-, capable of manipulating objects over the scale of themselves: building structures, mining, joining and breaking solids, manipulating genes, altering the development of living things, transplanting or replacing parts of themselves, reading and engineering their genetic code
- Type III-minus, capable of creating new materials, manipulating molecules and molecular bonds, creating nanotechnologies on the atomic scale, manipulating atomic nucleons and engineering the nucleons that make up the nucleus
- Types IV-minus and VI-minus are capable of producing complex forms of artificial life, manipulating the most elementary particles of matter, and manipulating the structure of space and time, respectively
Large-scale application of fusion power
Antimatter in large quantities would provide a mechanism to produce power on a scale several magnitudes above the current level of technology
- In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to radiant energy
- Theoretically, humans may in the future have the capability to cultivate and harvest a number of naturally occurring sources of antimatter
- Renewable energy through converting sunlight into electricity
Kardashev believed that a Type 4 civilization was impossible[citation needed], so he did not go past Type 3
However, new types (0, IV, V, VI) have been proposed.
- At the current time, humanity has not yet reached Type I civilization status.
Another means to generate usable energy would be to feed a stellar mass into a black hole, and collect photons emitted by the accretion disc.
Star lifting is a process where an advanced civilization could remove a substantial portion of a star’s matter in a controlled manner for other uses.
The transition between Kardashev scale levels could potentially represent dramatic periods of social upheaval since they entail surpassing the hard limits of the resources available in a civilization’s existing territory.
A common speculation[26] suggests that the transition from Type 0 to Type I might carry a strong risk of self-destruction since, in some scenarios, there would no longer be room for further expansion on the civilization’s home planet.
Carl Sagan suggested defining intermediate values by interpolating and extrapolating the values given above for types I (1016 W), II (1026 W) and III (1036 W), which would produce the formula:
K is a civilization’s Kardashev rating, and P is the power it uses, in watts.
- Using this extrapolation, a “Type 0” civilization, not defined by Kardahev, would control about 1 MW of power, and humanity’s civilization type as of 1973 was about 0.7.
Kardashev civilizations are either very rare or do not exist in the local Universe.
In 2015, a study of galactic mid-infrared emissions came to the conclusion that “Kardsahev Type-III civilizations are probably very rare”
