We
have touched a turning point in society. According to famous theoretical
physicist Michio Kaku, the next 100 years of science will decide whether we
perish or flourish. Will we continue to be a Type 0 civilization, or will we progress
and make our way into the stars?
Theorists
emphasize that, as a civilization grows superior and becomes more advanced, its
energy demands will rise quickly due to its population growth and the energy needs
of its various machines. With this in mind, the Kardashev scale was made as a
way of measuring a civilization’s technological progress based upon how much functional
energy it has at its disposal.
Meet the Kardashev Scale
The
scale was initially made in 1964 by the Russian astrophysicist, Nikolai
Kardashev (who was searching for signs of extraterrestrial life within cosmic
signals). It has 3 base classes, each with an energy usage level: Type I (10¹⁶W), Type II (10²⁶W),
and Type III (10³⁶W). . Other astrophysicists
have prolonged the scale to Type IV (10⁴⁶W)
and Type V (the energy accessible to this kind of civilization would equal that
of all energy accessible in not just our cosmos, but in all universes and in
all time-lines). These additions reflect both energy access as well as the
amount of knowledge the civilizations have access to.
Initially,
it is significant to note that the human race is not even on this scale yet.
Since we still sustain our energy requirements from dead plants and animals,
here on Earth, we are a poor Type 0 civilization (and we have a LONG way to go
before being promoted to a type I civilization). Kaku inclines to believe that,
all things taken into concern, we will reach Type I in 100 – 200 years time.
But what does each of these classes really stand for in literal terms?
A
Type I title is a given to species who have been capable of harnessing all the
energy that is obtainable from a nearby star, collecting and storing it to meet
the energy demands of a growing population. This means that we would need to increase
our current energy production over 100,000 times to reach this status. Though,
being capable of harnessing all Earth’s energy would also mean that we could
have control over all natural forces. Human beings could control volcanoes, the
weather, and even earthquakes! (At least, that is the impression.) These types
of achievements are hard to believe, but compared to the advances that may
still be to come, these are just basic and basic levels of control (it’s completely
nothing comparative to the abilities of societies with higher rankings).
A
Dyson Sphere (Credit: Slawek Wojtowicz)
The
next step up – a Type II civilization – can harness the power of their whole
star (not just converting starlight into energy, but controlling the star). Numerous
methods for this have been suggested. The most popular of which is the
hypothetical ‘Dyson Sphere.’ This device, if you want to call it that, would include
every single inch of the star, collecting most (if not all) of its energy
output and transporting it to a planet for later use. Instead, if fusion power
(the mechanism that powers stars) had been mastered by the race, a reactor on a
truly enormous scale could be used to fulfill their requirements. Nearby gas
giants can be utilized for their hydrogen, gradually drained of life by an
orbiting reactor.
What
would this much energy mean for a species? Well, nothing known to science could
wipe out a Type II civilization. Take, for instance, if humans lived long
enough to attain this status, and a moon sized object arrived our solar system
on a crash course with our little blue planet–we’d have the capability of
vaporizing it out of existence. Or if we had time, we could move our planet out
of the way, totally dodging it. But let’s say we didn’t want to move Earth… are
there any other options? Well yes, since we’d have the ability to move Jupiter,
or another planet of our choice, into the way – pretty cool, right?
So
we’ve gone from having control over a planet, to a star, which has resulted in
us harboring enough “disposable” energy to fundamentally make our civilization
immune to extinction. But now, onto Type III, where a species then becomes
galactic traversers with knowledge of everything having to do with energy, resulting
in them becoming a master race. In terms
of humans, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution – both biological and
mechanical – may result in the populations of this type III civilization being extremely
different from the human race as we know it. These may be cyborgs (or
cybernetic organism, beings both biological and robotic), with the offspring of
regular humans being a sub-species among the now-highly advanced society. These
completely biological humans would possibly be observed as being disabled, poorer,
or unevolved by their cybernetic colleagues.
At
this stage, we would have developed colonies of robots that are proficient of
‘self replication’; their population may upsurge into the millions as they
spread out across the galaxy, inhabiting star after star. And these being might
build Dyson Spheres to encapsulate each one, making a huge network that would
carry energy back to the home planet. But extending over the galaxy in such a
manner would face numerous difficulties; namely, the species would be
constrained by the laws of physics. Chiefly, light-speed travel. That is, except
they develop a working warp drive, or use that spotless energy cache to master
wormhole teleportation (two things that remain theoretical for the time being),
they can only get so far.
An
artist rendering of such a civilization
(Credit: Sid Meier's Civilization IV:
Beyond the Sword)
Kardashev
believed a Type IV civilization was ‘too’ advanced and did not go beyond Type
III on his scale. He thought that, confidently, this would be the extent of any
species’ capability. Many think so, but a few believe there is a further level
that could be achieved. (I mean, surely there is a limit?) Type IV
civilizations would almost be capable of harnessing the energy content of the whole
universe and with that, they could traverse the accelerating expansion of space
(additionally, advance races of these species may live inside supermassive
black holes). To previous methods of producing energy, these kinds of feats are
considered impossible. A Type IV civilization would require to tap into energy
sources unknown to us using strange, or currently unknown, laws of physics.
Type
V. Yes, Type V might just be the next possible advancement to such a
civilization. Here beings would be like gods, having the knowledge to
manipulate the universe as they please. Now, as I said, humans are a very, very
long way from ever reaching anything like this. But it’s not to say that it
cannot be achieved as long as we take care of Earth and each other. To do so,
the first step is to preserve our tiny home, extinguish war, and continue to
support scientific advances and discoveries.
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