What If Humanity Was A Type V Civilization?
Ever since we first appeared on Earth, humanity has been inventing, problem solving, and progressing
its technology. Science gave us a way to discover the universe and to determine what works and
what doesn’t, and we’ve used the knowledge we have to build relatively advanced civilizations
and to rise to the top of the food chain. But is there a final destination for us? An
ultimate endgame? Could we reach a point where there’s nothing left to discover?
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; What if humanity
was a Type V civilization?
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Type V is the pinnacle of the Kardashev scale, a system developed by astrophysicist Nikolai
Kardashev to measure humanity’s technological advancement based on how much potential energy
it can harness. Originally there were only three levels: A Type I civilization, which
can harness all of its home planet’s energy; a Type II, which uses all of its own star’s
energy; and a Type III that can harness all of the energy in its home galaxy. Kardashev
had imagined that this was the upper limit, but the scale has recently been added to.
Now, it’s proposed that Type IV civilizations can harness the entire universe’s energy,
and a Type V - the Type we’re interested in today - is able to access all of the energy
in all of the universes and timelines that ever have, do or will exist.
Right now, we still reside somewhere in the Type Zero region, not even utilising our own
Planet Earth to its full potential to make it to Type I… so we’re nowhere near close
to anything like Type V. But assuming we don’t annihilate ourselves or die off in some other
way, it’s feasible - perhaps even logical - to think that we’ll continue advancing
with each generation and, in time, we’d soar up and “complete” the Kardashev Scale.
So, what would life be like if we did just that?
Well, for starters, it would be almost unimaginable for us as we are now. Living a Type V existence
would mean harnessing all the energy possible in the Multiverse - which first and foremost
means we’d be at a time when the multiverse “many worlds” theory was not just a confirmed
reality, but one that we’d have mastered. We’d be able to travel anywhere and everywhere,
most likely via wormholes, not only within our own universe, but to any point in any
possible universe.
In this way, it’s conceivable to think that such a civilization would’ve reached the
acme of their technological prowess; the pinnacle at which everything that can exist does exist.
The energy output for such a scenario is impossible to predict - or even to fathom. However, it
has been estimated that a Type IV civilization would have an output of 10 Quattuordecillion
(that’s 10 to the power of 45) watts of power. So, given that Type IV would achieve
this with just one universe, we’d multiply that figure by the number of universes that
feature in our Type V multiverse… and that’s the incredible, almost unquantifiable estimate
we’re dealing with. For all intents and purposes, we’d have unlimited energy and
boundless potential.
What would that mean for our general state of mind? Well, a Type V civilization would
have a complete understanding of every theory in existence; will have mastered every form
of mathematics; will have perfected medicine, biology, astronomy, physics, and every other
branch of science; and will have written all there is to write. As with our access to energy,
our access to knowledge would be almost incomprehensible. Even highly skilled roles like research scientists
and theoretical physicists would now be occupations of the past, as there’d be no more research
needed in any field. Objective truth would be known throughout humanity and the so-called
“theory of everything” will’ve been identified. Humanity would be masters over
the laws of nature, able to manipulate them as they please. We’d also know of and will’ve
catalogued every life form ever to exist in any universe, past, present, or future. There’d
be nothing that we wouldn’t understand!
Religion, theology and even more general spirituality may well have died out at this point, too
- or at least the broader inclination to “have faith” in anything will have passed. We’d
now be able to prove or disprove the existence of a God quite easily by travelling to its
dimension, if there is one. We wouldn’t require faith because we genuinely would know…
although this part does depend on your interpretation. Some would argue that God is inaccessible
to humans no matter how advanced we become, so even under Type V circumstances we’d
still fall short of supreme power.
There’d be no doubting our powers everywhere else, though. By the time humanity had even
reached a Type II level, we’d basically be invulnerable to destruction from nature.
We could still obliterate ourselves by war, but natural disasters would no longer be a
threat. Storms, earthquakes and volcanoes would all be manageable; even asteroids would
be little more than a passing nuisance, thanks to our development of various techniques for
sidestepping them - including literally moving planets out of their path. Which means that
by the time we transcend to Type V status, the colossal dangers we encounter today - what
some might call “acts of God” - would be only a very distant memory. Even better,
though; for a Type V civilization, even war would be a thing of the past, with fair and
universal cohesion sweeping across existence.
Part of the reason for no war could well be that the fundamental nature of our existence
will’ve changed, as well. According to some projections, a Type V civilization could actually
wind up being a non-physical phenomenon. Say, in our genuinely infinite wisdom, we uncover
(or build) a non-physical dimension where something akin to consciousness can reside…
in the interests of ultimate efficiency we could inhabit that (instead of this tangible
world) to achieve an even higher level of existence. In so doing, we’d have effectively
conquered ageing, all disease and even death - turning ourselves into adaptable, indestructible
streams of data while still, in order not to sacrifice happiness, finding a way to remain
content in our new selves.
Anyone born into this age wouldn’t have to fear death and could justifiably expect
to live forever. We’d have long-surpassed even the need for AI prosthetics or artificial
organs, as even ultra-advanced robotics that now seem impossible will’ve become clunky,
outdated and unreliable. Even if someone did somehow die, we’d probably be able to recreate
them again; or they’d be able to manipulate the multiverse into erasing their death or
reversing it. For a Type V being, what we’d today consider “superpowers” would be
simple, blink-of-the-eye tasks!
Which highlights a philosophical question at the heart of this heady sci-fi trip…
because if humanity was a Type V civilization, then could it really still consider itself
as “humanity” at all? How “human” could it ever really be? We’d have the ability
to shape the world around us; to switch between universal plains; to live for as long as we’d
like; and perhaps even to construct for ourselves a paradisal “afterlife”, if such a place
was needed or wanted in a Type V time. The entire Multiverse would now be our playground
and we would exist more like the Gods we envision today.
Finally, and perhaps crucially, with a complete understanding of all dimensions across multiple
universes, we’d also almost inevitably be able to time travel. We could harness our
power to visit every moment in history, leaving no mystery unsolved and no historical inaccuracy
unchecked, collating for ourselves a complete and definitive record of our existence. In
this way, we’d at least be able to revisit the various “lower levels” of our evolution
- even all the way back to the days of “humanity” as we understand it now. So, though we will’ve
likely changed beyond all recognition, every Type V human would be able to instantly reconnect
with the past.
At which point, what would be the next step for us? Nothing, it seems. Right now, there’s
no established Type VI to aspire to. As far as we can contemplate, any being that exists
in a Type V civilization will have discovered everything there is to discover and would
know everything there is to know. Our most fundamental quests for wisdom, knowledge and
truth will’ve hit a ceiling and we might have nothing left to do. A good thing, perhaps…
but maybe also our eventual downfall.
The fabled Type V existence is an incredibly far-off dream that may perhaps never materialise.
But, if it did, it’d mean we’d have effectively “completed life”; a considerable achievement,
but one that’d leave us without purpose, wondering what to do next. Regardless, we
will have climbed the Kardashev Scale to the very top. And that’s what would happen if
humanity was a Type V civilization.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these
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