Just My Type: Kardashev Civilizations in SF and Beyond
danger of extinction by natural disasters such as comet impacts.
Type II: Controls the energy of an entire star. It has the ability to directly mine the sun. This civilization will have explored completely its own star system and will have established a number of colonies in neighboring star systems. The energy factor mastered by a Type II civilization is about 10^26 watts, or a 10 billion-fold increase over that controlled by Type I. A Type II civilization is virtually immune to extinction.
Type III: Controls the energy of an entire galaxy. Such a civilization can manipulate space-time and possesses almost godlike powers. It would be threatened with extinction only by the death of the universe itself (and even this might be avoided). Energy mastery for a Type III civilization marks another 10 billion-fold increase, to a level of 10^36 watts.
SO WHERE ARE WE?
We're nowhere. OK, we're on our way, but right now we are what would have
to be called a Type 0 civilization. Our best computers cannot even predict the
weather—much less control it. We have barely left the confines of our home planet,
with human forays only to the moon and immediate Earth orbit. We spend incredible
amounts of energy and resources bickering over inconsequential political boundaries
and ideological differences. We only learned to tap the nuclear force within
the past 50 years or so. If we aspire to be even a Type I civilization, we have
a long way to go.
But how long? Physicist Michio
Kaku speculates in his book Hyperspace
that we might reach Type I status—given our present rate of growth—within a
few centuries. From there, the climb to Type II and Type III could be very rapid,
with the transition from Type I to Type II occurring after only a thousand years.
To go from Type II to Type III could take a few thousand years more.
THE EXPRESS LANE
If it takes us some 2 billion years to go from tree-swingers to the first
level of Kardashev's civilization scheme, why could we make the jump to masters
of the universe in only a few thousand? The answer to that is quite easy, though
it may defy common sense.
The reason
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