Kardashev's Scale
Origin of the Kardashev Scale
If I asked any human being on Earth what they thought the most common question in astronomy is, they would most certainly say "Are Aliens Real?". This is due to the fact that the human brain is filled with curious thoughts and creative ideas. Of course, Nikolai Kardashev is no different. Mr. Kardashev, just like the rest of us, imagined what it would be like if aliens were much more advanced than humans (in terms of intelligence), so he made possible assumptions about what that would look like. His theories and analysis uplifts the curiosities of scientists all over the world and his works are being heavily reviewed even to this day, just like how Newton's laws are the pillars of modern-day physics.
(Nikolai Kardashev)
What is the Kardashev Scale?
The Kardashev scale of civilization is used to determine a particular civilization's technological advancement and energy consumption rate. The main point of this invention is to create assumptions and theories on how aliens would look and what humans could potentially develop into. Kardeshev realized that there is a common ground to any civilization and that is based on energy. Every civilization needs energy in order to survive. In the early forms of life on earth, natural resources such as wood, animal skin, fire, water, leaves, soil, coal, and natural gases were often used to build civilization. However, natural resources are not sustainable for the long run meaning that we could run out of all materials mentioned above. There is also renewable energy which is way more sustainable for humans, but there is a limit on wind energy and solar energy. With that being said, this is only one factor of how energy is distributed on the Kardashev's scale of civilization.
Type I Civilization
There are multiple types of civilization according to Kardashev's scale. The type 1 civilization is the most similar to Earth. The type 1 civilization is when a civilization uses each and every ounce of energy that is available to them. This includes using all the natural resources nonrenewable and renewable. One of the ways this is possible is by the usage of literally everything that is available to us. An example would be to convert natural disasters and mine volcanos, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc... We would potentially also be able to control the weather. Another example of a possible characteristic of a Type I civilization would be the usage of solar and wind energy, however, we have to convert every single ounce of energy from the sun. On Earth, we are trying to make advancements on this idea by the implementation of solar panels and windmills. These methods are a step in the right direction, however, we are not quite at that level of being able to convert every single ounce of sunlight into energy that is available here on Earth. Another big action that a Type I civilization should be able to do is the ability to store energy and be able to use the energy.
As you can see from the graph above, the trajectory of what civilization could be in terms of consumption rate is exponentially higher with the use of renewable energy. This is a very key factor in the future of human development.
The Mathematics of Kardashev's Scale
Now that you kind of get the idea of what a Type I civilization looks like and you probably have visualized it a little bit, we should go to the mathematical standpoint of the civilization. The amount of energy that a Type I civilization can possess is modeled in the form of 10^16 watts. You may have heard about watts on a battery or a charger, but the actual definition of a watt is a way to represent energy mathematically and it represents 1 joule of energy. The equation of 10^16 watts is represented by the amount of energy that is available to a Type I civilization. This is just the equation of a Type 1 civilization and there is an equation that fits all types of civilization. This equation is also made by Kardashev and it is K=(logP-6)/10. The K in this equation is the output value and is called the Kardashev's rating. P is the power that it consumes in terms of watts.
A Type 2 Civilization states that a civilization can harness every single watt of power from it's star. For instance, imagine the amount of sunlight and energy the sun gives out in all of its directions. If there was a way to harness every ounce of energy from the sun from all directions, you would have a type 2 civilization. Now I know what you're thinking. How can one civilization have control of every ounce of energy from every direction of a star? To be honest with you, most scientist and astronomers around the world have no idea. However there is one common idea or hypothesis among most physicists, and that idea is the dyson sphere. This idea was first grasped by the Freeman Dyson who the idea was named after. Mr. Kardashev himself mentioned this model in his page of his scale. A diagram of what that possibly looks like is shown below:
The model you see above is made up multiple large solar panels in a sphere which harnesses all the possible energy within the star. This structure is unimaginably big and has to be bigger than the sun and even with all the resources available here on earth, this structure is simply not possible. However, there is one way we may achieve this structure and that way is to maybe use nanotechnology to create particles and material from air or any other renewable resources. Achieving this feat who take millions of tiny projects and could take upwards of 10,000 years. As we go up the ladder of the kardashev scale we realize that it is not easy to climb. The amount of energy required for this stage of the scale is approximately equivalent to about 4×10^26 watts
A type 3 civilization harnesses every ounce of energy of every star in their galaxy. As you can possibly imagine, this act will possibly take millions of years. This part of the scale starts to get to unknown territory and some of the ways to obtain this part of the scale is unimaginable. Some of these ideas include going faster than the speed of light or the idea of a 4D dimension. However, we are not there yet and scale 3 may just be scale 2 but with more time and slightly better technology which allows them to be an intergalactic civilization and harness all the power in every solar system in the milky way galaxy or any galaxy. This process will likely include the dyson sphere mentioned above. The watts required for this civilization is around 10^37. To put this number into perspective it is 100000000000x more that the energy required for the type 2 civilization. This just shows the unbelievable amount of energy needed to achieve this level. It will probably take around 100,000 to 1,000,000 years for humanity to achieve this stage if they are achieving it at all. The graph/scale below is an almost perfect representation of where the dyson sphere and a normal planet belongs in, however earth is slightly before the type 1 civilization.
Earth has been at a certain pace for most of its existence, however it took a massive turn, in terms of technology, in recent years. Earth has seen a technological boost because of the invention of computer science, the renaissance, the industrial revolution and so on... The ancient times of civilization started with the invention of specific tools and formation of small political groups. For example, the native american tribes would be at a 0.3 level of civilization because they gasped the concept of hunting and gathering pretty well and they have an egalitarian lifestyle, meaning that they believe that everyone is equal. As we go forward in the kardashev scale, we realize that 0.5 and 0.6 level of civilization takes the concept of the way of living to a whole new level. A 0.5 level of civilization focuses more on nuclear energy and using up all of the natural resources. A 0.6 level of civilization is like the empires of the world and more specifically the roman empires, or french empire where there is a strong civilization searching for more land in order to have a stronger economical and political sense of living. Earth is on 0.72 on the kardashev's scale and to make progress on this scale by even just 0.01, we need to increase our energy production by 26%. This just shows how tough progressing is on this scale, however humanity is on an exponential path towards that type 1 civilization. Some scientists believe that humanity could reach the type 1 civilization in less than 200 years, however going into the type 2 civilization could take upwards of over 10,000 years.
Conclusion
The Kardashev scale is a fascinating display of what potential alien civilizations and our civilization in the future could look like and the fact that it takes in immense calculations to achieve this feat is unbelievable. The Kardashev scale is by far the closest estimation of what we think aliens could look like in terms of power and the scale ranges from higher levels of life and lower levels or unintelligent life.
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