Watch: What is time, according to physics?

Hard Science

The advent of time measurement is much more arbitrary than you may think. Centuries of changes have given us the systems in place today to tell time.

What is Time, According to Physics?

These trends could define the fate of humanity.

Are we a “type 1” or “type 2" civilization?

Michio Kaku: These are the two paths humanity could take in the next century

Future Society

Michio Kaku: These are the Two Paths Humanity Could Take in the Next Century

Let’s be honest, we have our fair share of problems on planet Earth: war, floods, disease, poverty, and environmental destruction (the list goes on and on, really). But we also have a lot of things going for us: the <a title="The Alcubierre warp-drive" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=353767568042992&amp;set=a.339114152841667.80486.313312622088487&amp;type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank">Alcubierre Warp Drive</a>, <a title="invisibility cloaks" href="https://futurism.com/?p=1546" target="_blank">invisibility cloaks</a>, the <a title="Mars rover" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=337093103043772&amp;set=a.338058762947206.80193.313312622088487&amp;type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank">Mars rover</a> missions, the <a title="discovery of the Higgs" href="http://tinyurl.com/fqtq-countdown-1" target="_blank">discovery of the Higgs</a> (again, the list goes on and on).
How can we weigh all the exciting and inspiring scientific discoveries against all the destruction and chaos? We have an ever-expanding list of catastrophes that is coupled with (indeed, that parallels) our unrelenting march towards technological perfection. With such a coupling of unimaginable horrors and magnificent advancements, how can we possibly measure our status as a civilization?
One of the easiest ways to answer this question is to form a scale that will allow us to scientifically measure our technological abilities against the technological possibilities. Or in layman’s terms, something that will allow us to measure our awesomeness against the total possible awesomeness. Fortunately, there are several ways of conducting such measurements.
One is “The <a title="Kardashev Scale" href="http://tinyurl.com/KardashevScale-fqtq-fb" target="_blank">Kardashev Scale</a>.”
If you just want to understand the basics of this scale, you can read the following paragraph and skip the more technical section, which is helpfully marked “The TLDR Part.” 
Essentially, to measure a civilization’s advancement, the Kardashev scale focuses on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to utilize. Notably, the amount of power available to a civilization is linked to how widespread the civilization is (whether it populates a planet, galaxy, or an entire universe).
<h2>The TLDR Part</h2>
The Kardashev scale exists because of a Russian astrophysicist known as Nicolai Kardashev (bet you&#8217;ll never guess where the scale got its name from).
In 1964, Kardashev came up with the idea that the status of a culture, as a whole, depends on two primary things: Energy and technology. He theorized that  a civilization&#8217;s technical advancement runs parallel to the amount of energy that the civilization is able to harness and manipulate. Essentially, the more energy that a society can produce, the more technologically advanced they are (this was originally just tied to energy available for communications, but has since been expanded).
In other words, according to this theory, a culture&#8217;s development (in the very widest sense) is a product of energy and of technology: Through technology, energy is harnessed, and as social systems are expressions of this technology, the status of a culture rests upon (and is determined by) the amount of energy that is harnessed.
The scale has a number of different categories (levels of classification). In recent years, scientists have expanded this scale to measure hypothetical civilizations—civilizations that are galactic, intergalactic, and even multiverse in nature.
Are you ready to find out where humanity falls? Then press on!
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/kardashev-scale-the-kinds-of-alien-civilizations-in-our-universe/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2015/12/TypesofCivilization_home_v2.jpg" alt="Kardashev Scale: The Kinds of Alien Civilizations in Our Universe" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/kardashev-scale-the-kinds-of-alien-civilizations-in-our-universe/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
<h2>Civilization Types</h2>
• Type 0: Subglobal Culture—This civilization extracts its energy and raw-materials from crude organic-based sources such as wood, coal, and oil. Any rockets utilized by such a civilization would necessarily depend on chemical propulsion. Since such travel is so pitifully slow, a civilization at this level would be (for the most part) confined to its home planet. Unfortunately, this is about where we are. We haven’t quite made it to Type I yet.
• Type I: Planetary Culture—This civilization would be slightly more advanced than those found on Earth. They would be capable of utilizing all available resources on their home planet, skillfully harnessing the energy output of an entire world (10^15 watts). With any luck (if we don’t blow ourselves to oblivion, or turn the Earth into an uninhabitable wasteland) we will reach this stage in 100-200 years. So maybe your grandkids will be around to see it; there’s some hope in that (assuming you have kids).
• Type II: Stellar Culture—This civilization would be far more advanced than we are (a few thousand years beyond our stage of evolution). Such a society would be able to harnesses all the energy of its star (in our case, about 10^26 watts). This culture might resemble the Federation of Planets, as seen on Star Trek; or the civilization might be like a majority of the humanoids in the Mass Effect universe, such as the Asari, Salarians, and Turians.
• Type III: Galactic Culture—This civilization would be able to harnesses the energy output of a galaxy (about 10 billion times the energy output of a Type II civilization, and about 100,000 to 1 million years more advanced than we are). They have colonized the galaxy itself, extracting energy from hundreds of billions of stars, <a title="traveling across interstellar space" href="http://mkaku.org/home/?page_id=250" target="_blank">traveling across interstellar space</a>, and populating innumerable worlds. This civilization may resemble the Borg (but hopefully not as mean and “resistant-is-futile-like”), or perhaps they would resemble the Empire from Star Wars (but hopefully not so Darth-Vader-choke-hold-like), or maybe they would be more like the Reapers from Mass Effect (but hopefully not so break-your-body-down-into-biogoop-like)…did anyone else notice that the civilizations at this level all seem to be evil and horrid?
<figure style="width: 4096px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/09/DeathStarLaserConstruction.jpg" alt="A Brief Explanation of the Kardashev Scale: How Far Can Humanity Really Advance?" width="4096" height="1716" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Lucasfilm</figcaption></figure>
• Type IV: Universal Culture —This civilization would be an intergalactic culture, spanning the breadth and width of the Universe. They would travel across the cosmos, commanding the power of a billion trillion suns. These societies would be capable of attempting projects of gargantuan, superhuman proportions, such as changing the structure of space-time or the deliberate slowing of entropy (or even its reversal) to achieve ultimate immortality. (Or, said civilizations may ultimately become capable of living INSIDE the event horizon of extra-massive black holes!) For humanity, such accomplishments might be forever beyond our reach. This level may be achievable only by incorporeal beings, such as members of Star Trek’s Q Continuum, or the Gallifreyans from Doctor Who.
• Type V: Multiverse Culture—This civilization will have transcended their universe of origin. It would be capable of universe-scale manipulation (jumping between multiverses that contain varied forms of matter, physics, and space-time). A civilization such as this would be home to beings of <a title="unimaginable power and energy" href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/physics_extraterrestrialcivilizations.htm" target="_blank">unimaginable power and ability</a>.
<h2>Looking to the Future</h2>
It is a little disheartening that we haven’t even reached Type I yet. It would be nice to say something inspiring, like “given our lowly position, there’s nowhere to go but up!” Yet, it is entirely possible that some major catastrophe (be it natural or human induced) will send us spiraling back into the Stone Age.
So, what’s the ultimate take away from all of this?
If we want to <a title="advance beyond" href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/earth-5000-years.htm" target="_blank">advance beyond</a> a Type 0 civilization, we’re going to need to play nice with one another (and maybe invest in science and education; that helps too).

Let’s be honest, we have our fair share of problems on planet Earth: war, floods, disease, poverty, and environmental destruction (the list goes on and on, really). But we also have a lot of things going for us: the Alcubierre Warp Drive, invisibility cloaks, the Mars rover missions, the discovery of the Higgs (again, the […]

A Brief Explanation of the Kardashev Scale: How Far Can Humanity Really Advance?

This is what our world could look like millennia from now.

To measure the level of a civilization’s advancement, the Kardashev scale focuses on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to utilize. Notably, the amount of power available to a civilization is fundamentally linked to how widespread the civilization is (you obviously can’t harness the power of a star if you are confined to your home planet). In<a title="a precious article" href="https://futurism.com/the-kardashev-scale-of-civilization-types/" target="_blank"> a previous article</a>, we offered an overview of the various civilization types, Subglobal Cultures, Galactic Cultures, Multiverse Cultures etc.
Today, I want to talk about what it would be like to live in a Type 0 Civilization—A Subglobal Culture.
This might seem like a rather strange topic for discussion. After all, we are a subglobal culture. So couldn’t I just say, “What you are doing right now is living in a subglobal culture. Congratulations. Look out your window or something.” Wouldn’t that give you a much better understanding of this civilization type than any explanation that I could give? No.
<h2>Understanding Our World</h2>
Based on our energy use, in 1973 astronomer <a title="Carl Sagan" href="http://www.carlsagan.com/" target="_blank">Carl Sagan</a> estimated that Earth represented a Type 0.7 civilization, more current assessments put us at about 0.72. What does this mean? We’ve had 4.5 billion years and we still haven’t made it to a Type 1 civilization.
So there’s a lot more to a Type 0 civilization than simply what you see when you look out your window. What about what came before? And what will come next?
On our own planet, at the lowest civilization type (Type 0.1) you would be a proto-human. You would use sticks and other basic tools to hunt and forage for your food. You probably wouldn’t wear any clothes. Many of your fellow proto-humans would be eaten by proto-lions (which would not be terribly pleasant, I’m afraid).
<figure id="attachment_2367" style="width: 826px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/00000.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2367 size-full" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/00000.jpg" alt="Civilized man: We’re still working on it…" width="826" height="302" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Civilized man: We’re still working on it… (See a larger image <a href="http://c2.plzcdn.com/ZillaIMG/0e8f1fe539f75a7f7efd1aca9979467a_1401129589_medium.jpg">here</a>)</figcaption></figure>
However, as an individual in a proto-society, you’d have to fight to earn mating rights, protect your hunting territories, and establish leadership through a strength based dominance hierarchy…so your fellows getting eaten by proto-lions might actually work to your advantage. Warm showers would (of course) be out of the question. You’d have to rely entirely on natural resources such as hot springs, fires set by lightning, and your own muscle power.
But eventually a proto-human in your proto-society would start carving stones into tools. Thus, your little world would evolve into the Stone Age (how exciting for you!).
<figure id="attachment_2390" style="width: 839px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/oooooo.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2390 " src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/oooooo.jpg" alt="Proto-technology at its best " width="839" height="557" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Proto-technology at its best (Author Unknown)</figcaption></figure>
At this point, as you move to a Type 0.2 civilization and beyond, you figure out how to manipulate fire and use it to your advantage (like making roasted proto-lion). You also start wearing clothing and other items that protect you from the natural environment. Eventually, you harness animals and use them to herd and transport material (proto-Lassie and proto-Mister Ed).
You might use smoke signals to communicate to distant tribes as you expand across the planet. And so you would slowly evolve from relying on natural forms of energy to manipulating resources for use.
<figure id="attachment_2396" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/kay-with-weapons.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2396" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/kay-with-weapons-300x225.jpg" alt="An advanced civilization = having an advanced way of killing other civilizations " width="300" height="225" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An advanced civilization = having an advanced way of killing other civilizations</figcaption></figure>
As your culture continues to develop, you will begin metalworking. But moving from the Stone Age into the Metal Ages takes time…a lot of time (the Stone Age on Earth lasted some 3.4 million years). But eventually you’ll stop using those ruddy stones, and you’ll progress through the Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages, where metal tools replace previous devices (and you make swords to stab your enemies, which will be of great assistance as you continue to fight to earn mating rights, protect hunting territories, and establish leadership through an economic based dominance hierarchy). Better fuels, such as coal or oil secured from local tar pits, will replace wood in campfires (just be careful with your herds around those tar pits; if one of your animals slips in, it probably won’t be seen again until some bloody scientist from a Type 0.7 civilization unearths it in a few millennia).
As you form into a more advanced community, you develop large structures that allow you to harness water power and wind power. Populations around rivers and other water systems surge and cities begin to truly develop (which makes plague spreading a snap and sewage removal a serious problem). Assuming your civilization isn’t wiped out by dysentery (it’s caused by fecal contamination of food and water), you will plateau here for a bit, at about Type 0.4.
<figure id="attachment_2399" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/mod2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2399" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/mod2-300x215.jpg" alt="Civilization, glorious civilization… " width="300" height="215" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Civilization, glorious civilization… (Author Unknown)</figcaption></figure>
The large structures created to harness wind and water energy are really only capable of producing a tiny amount of energy. So slowly, ever so slowly, you transition into widespread use of fossil fuel burning. And as we all know, a tiny bit of oil or natural gas goes a long way: Cue the industrial revolution!
Of course, steam and electricity are soon to follow.
Once you have electricity, your subglobal culture will evolve at an amazing rate. With electricity comes the advent of instantaneous global communication systems, amazingly fast transportation systems (which enable people to traverse the planet on a whim), global markets and planetary trade activities…and the dawn of a global culture is at hand.
At this level, you begin to truly understand the processes that create the planet and cosmos (your archaeologists delve into the deep recesses of tar pits and learn much about the herding practices of your ancestors). Nuclear energy is soon to follow and, as the energy released by nuclear fission is a million times greater than that released in chemical reactions, it fuels industry and technology even further, bringing society ever closer to breaching the bounds of the planet.
<h2>And here we have the major test</h2>
<figure id="attachment_2404" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/xlarge.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2404 size-medium" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2013/03/xlarge-300x168.jpg" alt="xlarge" width="300" height="168" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">via Wikimedia Commons</figcaption></figure>
Nuclear energy isn’t all fun and games. Sure, you can use it to power cities and expand world markets. But you can also use it to obliterate your enemies (and much of the planet in the process) as you continue to fight to earn mating rights, protect hunting territories, and establish leadership through an economic based dominance hierarchy.
If you pass the test, you will harness the power of your planet and advance to a Type 1 civilization—a united global society that is capable of harnessing all the solar energy that reaches your world, manipulating planetary weather systems, and you’ll start to pull energy from other objects in the cosmos. If you fail, you will quite literally bomb your society back into the Stone Age (assuming, of course, that you don’t completely obliterate every living member of your civilization).
So if we want to advance beyond a Type 0 civilization, we’re going to need to play nice with one another<a title="law" href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/repeal-sequesters-cuts-nasas-spending-public-outreach-and-its-stem-programs/kY7Tw85q" target="_blank"> (and maybe invest in science and education; that helps too).</a>

To measure the level of a civilization’s advancement, the Kardashev scale focuses on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to utilize. Notably, the amount of power available to a civilization is fundamentally linked to how widespread the civilization is (you obviously can’t harness the power of a star if you are confined […]

The Kardashev Scale Type 0: Why Earth is a Level Zero Civilization

Getting out of the Stone Age isn't easy. 

We have reached a turning point in society. According to renowned <a href="http://mkaku.org/" target="_blank">theoretical physicist Michio Kaku</a>, the next 100 years of science will determine whether we perish or thrive. Will we remain a Type 0 civilization, or will we advance and make our way into the stars?
Experts assert that, as a civilization grows larger and becomes more advanced, its energy demands will increase rapidly due to its population growth and the energy requirements of its various machines. With this in mind, <a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-kardashev-scale-of-civilization-types/" target="_blank">the Kardashev scale</a> was developed as a way of measuring a civilization&#8217;s technological advancement based upon how much usable energy it has at its disposal (this was originally just tied to energy available for communications, but has since been expanded).
<h2>Meet the Kardashev Scale</h2>
<figure id="attachment_7595" style="width: 240px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Karashev-Type-2.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-7595 " src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2014/07/Karashev-Type-2-300x186.jpg" alt="Credit: Chris Cold" width="240" height="149" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Credit: Chris Cold</figcaption></figure>
The scale was originally designed in 1964 by the Russian astrophysicist  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Kardashev" target="_blank">Nikolai Kardashev</a> (who was looking for signs of extraterrestrial life within cosmic signals). It has 3 base classes, each with an energy disposal level: Type I (10¹⁶W), Type II (10²⁶W), and Type III (10³⁶W). Other astronomers have extended the scale to Type IV (10⁴⁶W) and Type V (the energy available to this kind of civilization would equal that of all energy available in not just our universe, but in all universes and in all time-lines). These additions consider both energy access as well as the amount of knowledge the civilizations have access to.
First, it is important to note that the human race is not even on this scale yet. Since we still sustain our energy needs from dead plants and animals, here on Earth, we are a lowly Type 0 civilization (and we have a LONG way to go before being promoted to a type I civilization). Kaku tends to believe that, all things taken into consideration, <a href="http://mkaku.org/home/?page_id=246" target="_blank">we will reach Type I in 100 – 200 years</a> time. But what does each of these categories actually stand for in literal terms?
A <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/22/opinion/oe-shermer22" target="_blank">Type I designation</a> is a given to species who have been able to harness all the energy that is available from a neighboring star, gathering and storing it to meet the energy demands of a growing population. This means that we would need to boost our current energy production over 100,000 times to reach this status. However, being able to harness all Earth’s energy would also mean that we could have control over all natural forces. Human beings could control volcanoes, the weather, and even earthquakes! (At least, that is the idea.) These kinds of feats are hard to believe, but compared to the advances that may still be to come, these are just basic and primitive levels of control (it&#8217;s absolutely nothing compared to the capabilities of societies with higher rankings).
<figure id="attachment_7593" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/trantor9a.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-7593 " src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2014/07/trantor9a-300x180.jpg" alt="Image Credit: Slawek Wojtowicz" width="210" height="126" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A Dyson Sphere (Credit: <a href="http://www.elfwood.com/~slawcio/Trantor-from-space.3230279.html" target="_blank">Slawek Wojtowicz)</a></figcaption></figure>
The next step up &#8211; a <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Kardashev_scale.html" target="_blank">Type II civilization</a> &#8211; can harness the power of their entire star (not merely transforming starlight into energy, but controlling the star). Several methods for this have been proposed. The most popular of which is the <a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/?p=2600" target="_blank">hypothetical ‘Dyson Sphere.&#8217;</a> This device, if you want to call it that, would encompass every single inch of the star, gathering most (if not all) of its energy output and transferring it to a planet for later use. Alternatively, if fusion power (the mechanism that powers stars) had been mastered by the race, a reactor on a truly immense scale could be used to satisfy their needs. Nearby gas giants can be utilized for their hydrogen, slowly drained of life by an orbiting reactor.
What would this much energy mean for a species? Well, nothing known to science could wipe out a Type II civilization. Take, for instance, if humans survived long enough to reach this status, and a moon sized object entered our solar system on a collision course with our little blue planet&#8211;we’d have the ability to vaporize it out of existence. Or if we had time, we could move our planet out of the way, completely dodging it. But let’s say we didn’t want to move Earth&#8230; are there any other options? Well yes, because we’d have the capability to move Jupiter, or another planet of our choice, into the way – pretty cool, right?
<figure id="attachment_7594" style="width: 240px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/my-face-21.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-7594 " src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2014/07/my-face-21-300x200.jpg" alt="A Cyborg (Credit: Justin Lee)" width="240" height="160" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A Cyborg (Credit: <a href="http://justinlee1128.wordpress.com/2008/07/" target="_blank">Justin Lee</a>)</figcaption></figure>
So we’ve gone from having control over a planet, to a star, which has resulted in us <a href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/09/what-will-a-civilization-a-million-years-ahead-of-earth-look-like-weekend-feature.html" target="_blank">harboring enough &#8220;disposable&#8221; energy </a>to essentially make our civilization immune to extinction. But now, onto Type III, where a species then becomes galactic traversers with knowledge of everything having to do with energy, resulting in them becoming a master race.  In terms of humans, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution &#8211; both biological and mechanical &#8211; may result in the inhabitants of this type III civilization being incredibly different from the human race as we know it. These may be cyborgs (or <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/26-rise-of-the-cyborgs#.UlQlDBDan1k" target="_blank">cybernetic organism</a>, beings both biological and robotic), with the descendants of regular humans being a sub-species among the now-highly advanced society. These wholly biological humans would likely be seen as being disabled, inferior, or unevolved by their cybernetic counterparts.
At this stage, we would have developed colonies of robots that are capable of ‘self replication’; their population may increase into the millions as they spread out across the galaxy, colonizing star after star. And these being might build Dyson Spheres to encapsulate each one, creating a huge network that would carry energy back to the home planet. But stretching over the galaxy in such a manner would face several problems; namely, the species would be constrained by the laws of physics. Particularly, light-speed travel. That is, unless they develop <a title="Sci-Fi Becomes Sci-fact; The Real Star Trek:" href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/sci-fi-becomes-sci-fact-the-real-star-trek/" target="_blank">a working warp drive</a>, or use that immaculate energy cache to master wormhole teleportation (two things that remain theoretical for the time being), they can only get so far.
<figure id="attachment_7596" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bb.jpg"><img class="wp-image-7596 " src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2014/07/bb-300x225.jpg" alt="An artist rendering of such a civilization (Credit: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword)" width="210" height="158" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An artist rendering of such a civilization (Credit: Sid Meier&#8217;s Civilization IV)</figcaption></figure>
Kardashev believed a <a href="http://www.positivefuturist.com/archive/70.html" target="_blank">Type IV civilization </a>was ‘too’ advanced and didn’t go beyond Type III on his scale. He thought that, surely, this would be the extent of any species’ ability. Many think so, but a few believe there is a further level that could be achieved. (I mean, surely there is a limit?) Type IV civilizations would almost be able to harness the energy content of the entire universe and with that, they could traverse the accelerating expansion of space (furthermore, advance races of these species <a title="How Advanced Races of Intelligent Beings Could Live in Black Holes" href="http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-advanced-races-of-intelligent-beings-could-live-in-black-holes/" target="_blank">may live inside supermassive black holes</a>). To previous methods of generating energy, these kinds of feats are considered impossible. A Type IV civilization would need to tap into energy sources unknown to us using strange, or currently unknown, laws of physics.
Type V. Yes, Type V might just be the next possible advancement to such a civilization. Here beings would be like gods, having the knowledge to manipulate the universe as they please. Now, as I said, humans are a very, very long way from ever reaching anything like this. But it’s not to say that it cannot be achieved as long as we take care of Earth and each other. To do so, the first step is to preserve our tiny home, extinguish war, and continue to support scientific advances and discoveries.

Off World

We have reached a turning point in society. According to renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, the next 100 years of science will determine whether we perish or thrive. Will we remain a Type 0 civilization, or will we advance and make our way into the stars? Experts assert that, as a civilization grows larger and becomes more advanced, […]

/Civilization

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Future Society

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Hard Science

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Hard Science

The Kardashev Scale Type 0: Why Earth is a Level Zero Civilization

Off World

The Kardashev Scale – Type I, II, III, IV & V Civilization

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