Transcriber: lisa thompson Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
Our observable universe
is estimated to have been around for more than 13 billion years,
composed of almost two trillion galaxies,
each with their own 100 million stars.
In our Milky Way galaxy alone,
it is likely that there are some 40 billion earthlike planets
within the habitable zones of their stars.
Numbers of this magnitude are extremely hard for the human brain to conceptualize
and at the same time, make it hard to imagine
that there is no other form of life out there.
Ardipithecus, the earliest known genus of the zoological family hominine,
the group that includes humans,
lived between 5.8 and 4.4 million years ago.
The primate was based in Africa and was the first to walk upright.
Bipedalism allowed Ardipithecus to use his hands for weaponry,
tool making and other survival needs.
The Australopithecus and Paranthropus genus followed,
along with the ability to climb trees and consume a broader diet.
Between 1 million and 2.5 million years ago,
the Homo genus appeared and began migrating to other continents.
To this day, Homo sapiens, which refers to “wise man” in Latin,
the species to which all humans belong,
are the only surviving species in the Homo genus.
In only 6 million years, a small fraction of the universe’s life,
our ancestors were able to progress from hunting and gathering
in the fields of sub-Saharan Africa
to colonizing nearly an entire planet.
In the past century alone,
we have developed the ability to perform precise surgery on the human body,
created networks of virtually instant global communication,
and have the capability to explore distant planets.
Who’s to say that other life-forms haven’t done so already,
or even progressed far beyond what humanity deems possible?
However, before we can try looking for them,
we have to know what to actually look for.
Scientists must assume
that civilizations start millions or even billions of years apart from one another
and develop at varying speeds and directions.
Our human ancestors started with nothing but their brains and physique.
Those who were faster, stronger and smarter survived.
Thus, it is reasonable to assume
that aliens have similar fundamental characteristics in order to thrive.
While being constrained to the same laws of physics,
a civilization’s level of advancement could be measured
based upon energy use and consumption.
In the midst of the 20th century Space Race,
Nikolai Kardashev, a Soviet astronomer, did just that.
He proposed a logarithmic three-pronged scale
that classified a hypothetical civilization’s level of progress,
known today as the Kardashev scale.
Type I civilizations, also known as planetary civilizations,
are the lowest level civilizations on the scale
who have the ability to store and use all of the energy
that reaches its home planet from its host star.
Michio Kaku, a famous theoretical physicist and futurist,
states in his book Physics of the Future
that K-I civilizations can “harness the power of volcanoes,
manipulate the weather, control earthquakes
and build cities on the ocean.”
Type I civilizations are also classified as having the innate ability
to perform both fission and fusion power reactions
to supply a population of up to 100 billion people
with enough energy.
They also have the ability to travel
and communicate quickly between planets.
Necessary resources to sustain society
would also likely be extracted from nearby asteroids and gas giants.
This technology is already being researched
and developed by companies like TransAstra and Bradford Space.
Type II civilizations, also referred to as stellar civilizations,
have control over the total energy output of its host star
through hypothetical megastructures like the Dyson sphere,
which was first proposed by Freeman Dyson’s paper,
Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation.
K-II civilizations are also classified
as having the capability of interstellar travel and communication.
Theoretical mechanisms for these abilities include the Alcubierre drive,
proposed by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre,
by which a spacecraft would contract space in front of itself
and expand space behind it to result in faster than light travel.
Type III civilizations, also called galactic civilizations,
can control the total energy of its entire host galaxy.
K-III civilizations have the power to travel and communicate between galaxies
and even engineer on a galactic scale.
Neutron stars and pulsars may help fuel
the exponentially high requirements of these societies,
as outlined by James Lattimer of Stony Brook University.
Now, you may be asking yourself, where do we land on the scale?
As we all know,
our society still relies heavily on non-renewable energy sources
like coal, oil and natural gas.
We have yet to capture,
use and store all the energy that falls onto our planet from the Sun.
However, we are making progress,
with some scientists estimating only 100 years
until we become a Type I civilization.
Carl Sagan, a famous astronomer and astrophysicist,
famous for his work
in researching the possibilities of extraterrestrial life,
proposed an equation
to determine a civilization’s intermediate Kardashev rating:
K = (log10[P] - 6) / 10,
where P is the collective power a civilization uses in watts.
Currently, our civilization consumes around 17.7 terawatts of power,
or 177 followed by 11 zeros.
Substituting this value into the equation above,
our interpolated Kardashev rating is approximately 0.7248.
Even as a civilization with over 7.5 billion individuals
who have sent humans to the moon
and scientific machinery billions of miles into the dark depths of space,
our species still scores a measly 0.72.
So, how can we increase this number?
No, we can’t just aimlessly consume more energy
to artificially inflate this metric;
that isn’t sustainable.
We as a society need to collectively recognize the importance of science
and support the researchers
and organizations that work so hard to make our lives better.
Encouraging companies to rely less on non-renewable resources,
although expensive, is an important first step towards preserving our Earth.
Given the nature of how technological advancements naturally progress,
buying time for future generations to make promising leaps in innovation
is of the utmost importance.
Investing in our nation’s youth and improving their education
will only serve our species for the better in the future.
Just imagine a world with no scarcity of resources,
no hunger or poverty,
a future with automation and artificial intelligence so advanced
people no longer need to perform tedious daily tasks;
most importantly, however, a future where each individual has the ability,
resources and time to spend doing the things they love.
Thinking, discussing and sharing topics like these are truly humbling.
It shows us that humanity has so much potential
and still a long, long way to go.
I strongly believe
that the compounding effect
of the positive actions taken by each individual
can progressively lead to real change.
Thank you.