The Kardashev Scale

[Ayn Stein]

Are we allowed to make triple posts now?

Apparently so, since he did. If not, shouldn't the system stop it from happening? [Off-Topic]

 

[Wolf Sage]

@M107

[Off-topic] Hmm. Good point. Well, I guess this thread is a special case, then, since the blue armors let it slide...

 

[Batman]

I have updated this article once again. This makes it v.7.0. I have added and tweaked several things; particularly in the criticisms section.

 

[RedLink]

Dang, you're on a role Batman! Gotham must be pretty quiet for you to have all this free time.

Btw, isn't this somewhat what scientology is saying? Well, let's ignore the crazy parts and look at what Assassin's Creed borrowed. Maybe God was just a very advanced civilization and we're all a petri-dish.

 

[Jamie]

This is very interesting, but perhaps a bit over my head. It's kind of depressing to think that we're still only at type 0. Although with possibilities to colonize planets like Mars I feel we are well on our way to type I. But is it really even possible to surpass it? Interstellar travel could very well never happen. And I'm struggling to find much of a difference between type III and type IV. The difference between Type IV and Type V also seems rather vague (but not as vague as the former).

 

[Batman]

Dang, you're on a role Batman! Gotham must be pretty quiet for you to have all this free time.

Btw, isn't this somewhat what scientology is saying? Well, let's ignore the crazy parts and look at what Assassin's Creed borrowed. Maybe God was just a very advanced civilization and we're all a petri-dish.

Scientology claims that hyperadvanced civilizations once existed and that we humans are descendants of them. It tries to blend new age spirituality and mysticism with this notion. This article is just a catalog of how human or other societies could potentially evolve technologically and socially. The purpose of Scientology is to promote a faith that happens to have space opera doctrine; this article is meant to get you thinking about the possibilities of the future (or the kinds of civilizations that might exist out there somewhere). As to God being a Type IV or V civilization, that's a common notion that's brought up. Such a notion however forces God to move away from the supernatural, as a Type IV or V civilization would definitely be "natural" and not mystical at all. It would be like monkeys thinking that we humans are gods...sure we're much more advanced than the chimpanzees (beyond their ability to fathom even), but we're certainly not "gods". Anyway, glad you enjoyed the article.

This is very interesting, but perhaps a bit over my head. It's kind of depressing to think that we're still only at type 0. Although with possibilities to colonize planets like Mars I feel we are well on our way to type I. But is it really even possible to surpass it? Interstellar travel could very well never happen. And I'm struggling to find much of a difference between type III and type IV. The difference between Type IV and Type V also seems rather vague (but not as vague as the former).

It's depressing to me as well Repentance that we're still at Type 0 on this scale, but I'm confident that we will reach Type I status before too long (almost certainly after you and I are dead however). If you're interested in this kind of thing (and an optimistic view of humanity's future) I suggest you read "Physics of the Future" by Michio Kaku. It's a fantastic book.

Also, it seems logical to believe that going from Type 0 to Type I is the most difficult transition. Once a society reaches the level of maturity, cooperation, and technology that Type Is require, transitioning to the higher tiers, while taking a long time, should be quite easy. The issues that Type Is will face when progressing will probably not be political, religious, economic, etc, rather purely scientific. I'd also like to point out that even if faster-than-light travel and communication (using loopholes in relativity and quantum mechanics) turns out to be forever impossible, we would still definitely be able to travel to many thousands of star systems and potentially colonize the entire galaxy. There are several engine designs in the works right now that are proven to be able to travel at near light speeds (ramjet fusion, solar/laser sails, nuclear pulse, antimatter, and so on). These designs break no laws of physics and are fully capable on paper of going great galactic distances in reasonable amounts of time. The strange properties of General Relativity also provide some hope for potential crewmembers on such craft. The issues facing these designs are purely engineering issues (cost, building the appropriate technology, etc). I also suggest that you research wormholes (naturally occurring and potential ways to artificially inflate them) and Alcubierre Drive (there have been several promising mathematical analyses coming from this recently) if you're interested in FTL that very well may become a reality someday.