The different levels of civilizations
The Kardashev scale consists of 5 types (levels) of civilization. What is humanity's level and how much can we level up?
The Kardashev scale was created by Russian astrophysicist Nicolai Kardashev (guess where the name came from). This scale is based on a civilization's ability to harness energy and manipulate it. For example, a type 2 civilization is better at harnessing and manipulating energy than a type 1 civilization. The original scale designed by Kardashev contained only three types, but scientists added more types over time. Be prepared to get your mind blown.
Type 0 (Humanity)
Humanity is currently at this level (I know right). We have all the information in the world right at our fingertips. The globe is basically a huge circuit that is heavily interconnected. You can video call people who are halfway across the world. Humanity is literally changing the Earth’s composition due to mining, pollution, and global warming. We even went to the moon! Yet, we are still a type 0 civilization. Just imagine how a type 4 or even 1 civilization will be like. Keep reading if you want to know.
Since humanity is a type 0 civilization, you probably know how a civlization like this works. A civilization at this level extracts its energy from crude organic-based materials like wood, coal, and oil. Any rockets utilized would rely on chemical propulsion. Since this type of travel is so slow, a civilization at this level would be confined to its home planet (just like us).
Note: a type 0 civilization wasn’t even on the original kardashev scale.
Type 1
A type one civilization would be able to harness all the energy that is available on the planet and neighboring stars. Being able to harness all of Earth’s energy would mean having the ability to control natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados, etc. You would never have to worry about your phone running out of battery because your table, chair, floor, the counter would be your chargers.
Harnessing the energy of the Sun will also prove monumental in humanity’s growth. The amount of energy the Sun produces would allow us to get enough energy to travel to different planets and possibly solar systems. Technology would advance advance faster than it is today, a new era of humanity would begin.
Type 2
Humans can now control the Sun. This is not just converting startlight into energy, but controlling the movement of the Sun and all it’s processes. Scientists already proposed some methods to achieve this feat. The most popular is called the Dyson Sphere. This Dyson Sphere would encompass the whole star and extract, if not all, most of it’s energy.
Now that humans have this much energy available to them, eliminating this invcible species would prove to be extremely difficult. What if in the future, an object the size of the Moon is on a collision course with the Earth? Well guess what, we would have enough energy to disintegrate it into nothingness. We could move the Earth to dodge, or even move other planets like Jupiter to take the hit. We would basically have enough energy to make our civilization immune to extinction. Humans will also be able to travel to all the planets and moons of the solar system - I mean, we got the Sun’s energy with us. Colonizing planets would be a piece of cake and NASA will turn into a sort of federation of the solar system. Now that’s some high level stuff.
Type 3
Humans now know everything about energy. We can literally extract energy from anything - planets, starts, dust, and even the smallest particles. With all this energy, humanity will be able to expand it’s reach throughout the galaxy. We will have the ability to explore different solar systems and might even discover alien life. Just imagine all the stars of the Milky Way galaxy enclosed in Dyson spheres extracting immense amounts of energy. Such an immense power would allow us to go beyond the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy to the edges of the universe.
Type 4
The abilities of a type 4 civilization is almost god-like. It would take millions of years (maybe eve a billion) to reach this level. If humanity were to ever reach this level, we would be able to harness the energy content of everything in the universe - even black holes. We would be able to live anywhere. Further advances races may even live inside super massive black holes.
Type 5
Yes, type 5 may be the next advancement to an already ridiculously advanced civilization. Will we even be human if we even reach this level? Type 5 civilizations are basically gods. If humanity were to ever reach this stage, we would be able to manipulate the universe as we please. We can change the laws of physics easily and maybe even jump between multiple universes (if they exist). We will be able to catch up to the expansion of the universe itself and have the ability to colonize the universe. Even sci-fi movies haven’t gone that far.
Conclusion
Did you have fun trying to fathom all the unfathomable things we will never experience in this lifetime? Use your imagination to tell me what you think any type of civilization would be like in the comments below.
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