We have come to a point where we can assume how civilizations are going to be in the future.
Join me as I explain The Kardashev scale. The Kardashev Scale, ranks the technological
capabilities of a civilization, according to the energy it is able to manipulate and
exploit. The scale was invented in 1964 by the Russian astronomer Nikolai Semenovich
Kardashev who was looking for signs of extraterrestrial life within cosmic signals and proposed a
scale for ranking these hypothetical civilizations based on their energy consumption. So the
Kardashev scale was developed as a way of measuring a civilization’s technological
advancement based upon how much usable energy it has at its disposal.
The scale has three types that follow the scale of astrophysical structures in our local
universe. The basic calibration is based on 3 energy positions on the scale corresponding
to the ability to fully manage the energy resources of a inhabited planet (Type I),
the star of the respective solar system (Type II) and its galaxy (Type III). Other astronomers
have expanded the scale to Type IV and Type V.
Samples of civilizations that could correspond to the Kardashev scale are both terrestrial
and other supposedly extraterrestrial civilizations. Due to the fact that the American astronomer
and astrophysicist Carl Sagan wanted to classify our current civilization, he noticed that
we are not Type-I yet and he expanded and calibrated the scale before type I. The reason
why human race is not even on type-I yet is because we continue to maintain our energy
needs from dead plants and animals, here on Earth. We are just a humble culture type 0
and we still have VERY long distance to go before promoted to a type I civilization).
According to Carl Sagan, in 1900 during the Industrial Revolution period, our terrestrial
civilization was at 0.58 while in 2012 it was at 0.72 on the scale. Freeman Dyson estimated
that we will probably reach type 1 in 100-200 years, type 2 in the year 11,200 and type
3 in 100,000 to 1,000,000 years. Before we continue with our explanation to
the Kardashev Scale, be sure to like or dislike the video so that we can continue improve
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Now let's examine on a closer look some features of the 4 energy positions. What does each
of these categories really mean in literal terms?
Type 0 A type-0 civilization is based on energy which
can derive mainly from sources where energy forms are mildly stored and are found before
the specific type 1,2,3. Our culture today belongs to type-0, which uses sources such
as coal, oil or natural gas. As we mentioned before, it is understood that we have not
reached type-1 in the Kardashev scale yet.
Type I A Type I civilization has complete control
over the energy of its host planet. As a type I civilization, we would be capable of controlling
Earth entirely. So this Civilization has managed to tame and consume the energy offered to
it by its own planet, which it fully controls. It would, for example, be capable of collecting
all the starlight that falls on the planet. However, the ability to harness all of the
Earth's energy would also mean that we could have control of all natural forces. The temperature,
the climate of the planet could be controlled in the same way that we could control volcanoes,
weather conditions and even earthquakes! It is possible that weaving or even earthquakes
can be changed at will by this civilization. So we could influence the nature. At least
that's the basic idea. These things are hard to believe, but compared to the advances that
can be made in the coming years, imagine that these are just basic and primitive levels
of control. Type II
The next step ? A Type II civilization .This is the next stage in the evolution of a civilization.
At this level the inhabitants who make up such a civilization, can harness the power
of their mother star, their Sun not only by turning the light of the star into energy,
but by controlling the star itself. It would control the orbit of all planets in that system,
harvest asteroids and comets at its leisure, and basically consume the entire solar system.
For example, if humans survived long enough to reach this level, and an object the size
of the Moon entered our solar system with a collision course with our little blue planet,
we would have the ability to wipe it out from the ground. Or if we had time, we could move
our planet, avoiding it altogether. But let's just say we didn't want to move the Earth...
are there any other options? Well, yes, because we'd be able to move the planet Jupiter, or
another planet of our choice, on its way... Isn't that amazing?
So we go from controlling a planet to controlling a star, which will lead us to gather enough
"expendable" energy to make our civilization virtually immune to extinction. It is important
to mention that the energy it consumes is 10 billion times more than the energy produced
by a civilization type I. Type III
But now, in addition to type III culture, a species is now becoming an intergalactic
traveler, with great knowledge of all those who have to do with energy, and that will
result in the domination of its species, making it a dominant race. A type III civilization
would span the entire galaxy, colonizing and controlling numerous systems. From a human
point of view, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution - both biological and technological
- can lead the inhabitants of this type III culture to be incredibly different from the
human race as we know it. A type III Civilization controls energy at a galactic level in its
entire galaxy and may have decimated one or more neighboring galaxies. Such a civilization
has reached a level of energy experimentation even with black holes. He can travel in the
space and time within the same place and has the ability to escape in the past in case
the heat of death is caused in his life. Similarly, the energy it consumes, is 10 billion times
more than the energy that is produced by a type 2 civilization.
Type IV Type 4 is a scale extension. This civilization
would be supergalactic, able to travel throughout the entire universe and consume the energy
output of several—possibly all—galaxies Zoltan Galantai has defined a theoretical
extension of the scale with a type IV civilization that is in the best place in the world that
can control the energy of the whole visible world, possibly the dark matter. He may be
able to travel to other universe or send information to them so that a type 0 culture can develop,
with a view to developing into a type I culture. Such civilization is approaching or exceeding
even the exotic limits of scientific imagination based on our current scientific knowledge
and may be impossible to exist. The scientist himself has agreed that such a civilization
would not be detectable as its actions would not differ from the very natural processes.
The scientist Michio Kaku in his book ‘’parallel worlds’’ has given an alternate definition
to type IV, thus naming the civilization that can control galactic energy sources such as
the so-called dark energy. One possible way of fully collecting the energy from an astronomer
is thought to be the Dyson sphere. The sphere is a hypothetical megastructure
that encloses a star and accumulates the energy that the star emits. The concept of this construction
was originally developed by the science fiction writer Olaf Stapleton in his novel Star Maker
(1937),while later the idea was promoted and became more widely known by the physicist
Freeman Dyson in a study he carried out in 1960 entitled Search for Artificial Stellar
Sources of Infrared Radiation. Dyson estimated that the existence of such structures would
be the logical consequence of the growing needs of a technological culture for energy
and the necessity of ensuring its long-term survival.He also suggested that the search
for such structures could lead to the discovery of sophisticated and intelligent alien life
forms. There could be different types of spheres and their energy absorption capacity would
correspond to the technological development levels of the Kardashian scale.
The various types of similar devices, which aim to directly exploit stars and store their
energy, are called Dyson bullets, with some of these hypothetical proposals extending
to the ability to inhabitation or developing an industry in these constructions. Most ideas
are represented as a shell that surrounds a star, but there are also versions where
the device is a ring or battery arrays. Experts claim that, as a culture develops
and becomes more advanced, its energy needs will increase rapidly due to the population
growth and the energy requirements of its various machines. With this in mind, the Kardashian
scale has been developed as a way of measuring the technological progress of a culture based
on how much usable energy is at its disposal Let’s consider on a deeper level the transition
from Type 0 to Type I Civilization ... Will We Make It?
As we mentioned before, we can calculate and when we will attain type I and the answer
is in approximately 100 years and we will able to play with weather conditions, earthquakes,
volcanos, and anything planetary. But the period of transition from type 0 to I culture
is considered the most critical and dangerous in the scale due to the fact that we have
chemical biological weapons capable of wiping out life on Earth. Also we have not developed
sufficient collective intelligence and the use of new powers can completely obliterate
this culture before it completes the full transition to type 1. Nuclear, biological,
geophysical weapons of mass destruction, unchecked rise in the temperature of the planet, destruction
of natural protective mechanisms such as magnetosphere, ozone layer, etc.
Let’s now see things from another point of view. There are some evidence that we are
closer than we think to achieve type I. For instance For human civilization on earth,
signs of transition to type I civilization from type 0 are considered to be the taming
of nuclear energy, globalization efforts in technology, language, culture, the political
system, successful earthquake prediction and causing earthquakes. Also something that consumes
a lot of our time and energy. The Internet. It’s something that we all use in our daily
lives and is a significant part of us. But for scientists internet is something more
than that. It is an important clue that we are in the beginning of Type I. We will be
privileged to be alive to witness the birth of type I. We will be part of making history
and exploring new horizons that we have no idea they exist.
What keeps us interesting and at the same time is fascinating in the Kardashev Scale
is the fact that, what we see on tv series, well-known movies can come true in the future.
It’s not only sci-fi but a very serious scenario to happen. It is where imagination
meets reality, and don’t you think it is something remarkable to notice?
Now that we know about Kardashev scale and we know for sure that we are reaching Type
I with examples from our daily life, I think we can see our every day routine with more
gratitude. And it doesn’t matter that we won’t be
be able to reach the final point of the scale as the fact itself that we have thought and
dreamed of this to happen can feel us with joy.
Thanks for watching everyone! I would really like to know your opinion regarding Kardashev
Scale. Do you agree with these types? Do you think that we are approaching Type 1 civilization?
Would you like to witness this? Let me know, in the comments below, be sure to subscribe,
and I’ll see you next time on the channel!