If alien civilisations exist then there must be a way to classify them. A hypothetical scale based on the correlation between the kind of civilisation and its energy availability combined with commensurate population growth was created by a Russian astrophysicist called Nikolai Kardashev in 1964. This scale is known as the Kardashev Scale. This is anchored on the logic that a society of intelligent beings develop more and more sophisticated technology their energy needs will increase along with population growth. They will have at their disposal various types of energy to use and this will not be from their home world but drawn from the stars and even the universe.
The growth in demands for energy combined with population growth as a civilisation grows is true. As mankind moved from the Paleolithic Age, when we were still hunter-gatherers , into the Neolithic Age, when farming began, and into the Industrial Revolution there has a been a great need for coal, oil, gas, nuclear and hydroelectric power and now when we are in the Digital Age , also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there has been an ever growing need for energy. This need for energy reflects the complexity of the civilisation that needs it. As we travel through the expanse of space and time and our civilisation develops, there has been a parallel exponential growth in population as economic growth expanded and many newly independent countries joined in the race towards economic development. When we were still hunter-gatherers back in the Palaeolitihic Age, our energy needs would have been simple.We needed wood to make fire to cook our food, give us light or illumination when its dark and perhaps to ward off dangerous animals. Wood was easily at our disposal then and easily sourced. When we moved into the Neolithic Age our farms and villages would have made use of wood, animal dung and beeswax as energy which we easily had. As we moved into the Copper and Bronze Ages and then into the Iron Age, our energy needs were still met with charcoal, oil, bitumen and coal, but the demand for them would had increased commensurate with population size. As the human population grew and steam and coal and fuel powered machines appeared in the form of trains, ships and eventually motorcars, our energy needs were met further by petrol and electricity and eventually nuclear power.. The current age sees the increased use of electricity for computers and their peripherals. Companies like IBM, Google,Daimler,and government organisations make use of banks of servers to store and distribute information. These devices consume vast amounts of electrical power and are met. This need is high due the population increase and economic development. This should hold true for an extraterrestrial civilisation that may have grown in a similar way as we humans have. We can see that as we progressed in our civilisations we had various kinds of energy at our disposal. Karsdashev observed this in 1964, and from there developed his scale.
The scale that Kardashev classifies extraterrestrial civilisations are into three base classes. Type 1 , 2 and 3. Some astronomers expanded on the scale with type 4 and 5, but these two classification were abandoned as unrealisable as will be explained. The criteria for classification was the energy consumption of each type of civilisation. According to Kardashev, there are three types of civilisations: Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3. All three types have energy resources at their availability and consequent disposal. Although some astronomers have extended the scale to incorporate Type 4 and Type 5 it is thought that the energy needs of such civilisations would be equivalent to all the energy in the universe and in all universes and in all time-lines, that is at all stages of their development into sophisticated and technologically advanced states of civilisation. The Type 4 and Type 5 civilisations include not only their access to energy resources but their knowledge to construct the kinds of civilisations they exist in, that is the capability to develop advanced technology beyond what we on Earth can realise at this time.
 |
| Nikolai Kardashev. |
To begin with, what is the type of civilisation of Earth at the present? Ours is a type 0 civilisation. According to Dr Michio Kaku, an American theoretical physicist, we are a type 0 civilisation because we still depend on fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal for much of our energy needs. We must also bear in my mind that we also use, uranium (a mineral) hydroelectric power and in small measure the so-called renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. These energy sources are all drawn from the earth or like solar power drawn from Earthbound solar panels. Dr Michio Kaku believes that for so long as we use fossil fuels we will always be a type 1 civilisation in about 100 to 200 hundred years time. He adds that the progress of science in the coming 100 years will determine whether we will remain a type 0 civilisation or we will perish!
 |
| Dr Michio Kaku. |
A type 1 civilisation is one which is able to harness the power of the sun. This civilization will harness energy from a neighbouring star, transmit to their home world, store and satisfy its energy needs in order to keep pace with its increasing population. This is not possible for us on Earth at this time. We have yet to develop the technology to collect energy from our sun nor from a neighbouring sun. In order for us to do this, we will have to boost our current energy production by over 100,000 times to reach this level of ability. This would also mean that we would need to harness the entire energy output of the planet, that is to say, we must have control over the natural forces of volcanoes, the wind, waves and earthquakes. This is not really in our grasp but with advances in technology, we may arrive at that plateau where we can do so, but in comparison to more advanced civilisations, our feats will be small by comparison.
A type 2 civilisation will not only harness the power of its own star but control it by using gargantuan solar panel array called a Dyson Sphere.
 |
| An artisit's impression of a Dyson Sphere. |
A Dyson Sphere will cover every centimetre of a star and in that way absorb every bit of solar energy issued by it. That civilisation would then store and use the energy. Alternatively, a type 2 civilisation may opt for nuclear fusion to obtain energy. This according to Dr Michio Kaku could be in the form of an enormous nuclear fusion reactor in orbit around a star where it will draw hydrogen for the star and produce fusion energy which will then be transmitted back to their planet for storage and use. Perhaps, we could see such society having several reactors around many stars doing the same. This is a civilisation that will have the capability to destroy with a massively powerful charged particle weapon, perhaps surpassing lasers, that can vaporise a large celestial body such as a comet or asteroid that could endanger its planet. It could also move its homeworld out of the trajectory of a gigantic comet or asteroid or even move another planet with the energy it has.
A type 3 civilisation will have long surpassed any need for concerns about energy resulting in that species becoming a "master race" who now can concentrate on domination of the galaxy. This species can evolve into a specie that is part biological and part robotic. If we talk about human beings evolving in this way it will take a many many thousands of years to do so and we will call these beings cyborgs. We do not what an extraterrestrial specie will such beings but they too might evolve in this way. Cyborgs will have the gift of eternal life. If this occurs constant self-replication will witness an enormous expansion of population. This will then make it necessary for them to move large sections of their population to other inhabitable planets or they could make those planets inhabitable. They could then construct a large network of Dyson Spheres that are linked to each other thereby creating a galactic wide civilisation that controls space. They could collect the energy from their Dyson Spheres and relay it to their homeworld. However, there could be drawbacks in such a network. The laws of physics will constraint their efforts, especially the speed of light. The potential of travelling to other planets and stars will need speeds in excess of the speed of light, which according to Albert Einstein, cannot be exceeded. The only they can work around the constraint of light speed is in two theoretical concepts: warp drive (https://futurismnews.tumblr.com/post/62055261581/sci-fi-becomes-sci-fact-the-real-star-trek-as/amp /
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive ) and using wormholes (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-wormholes-real/). However, as regards wormholes, there is some scepticism if they are possible to use for travelling in space (https://phys.org/news/2018-12-scientists-dismiss-idea-wormholes.html).
 |
| An artist's conceptualization of a Type 3 Civilisation. |
A type 4 civilization was seen by Kardshev as being far too advanced for any civilization to achieve. Nonetheless, there are many people who think that such as civilisation could be achieved. They are opposed by a few who that such a civilisation is realisable. A type 4 civilisation will be able to harness the entire energy content of the universe. Such a civilization would be able to travel the length and breadth of the universe. they could even possibly live inside supermassive blackholes. Their energy requirements would be far in excess of any technology that can be envisaged and use technologies completely alien to the laws of physics. These would be very exotic technologies that we cannot visualise let alone conceptualise.
 |
| A Type 4 Civilisation. |
A type 5 civilisation might be the logical progression from the type 4 civilisation. The criteria for this kind of civilisation is beyond imagination or conjecture. There cannot be an adequate scientific explanation for it. The species of this civilization will live like gods of mythology with the knowledge to manipulate the universe to their advantage. It is simply beyond conceptualisation.
Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment