We recently published of the new milestones NASA aims to achieve, with the intention of deflecting an asteroid from its trajectory so as not to hit the surface of our planet. The progressive level of technological development that our civilization is achieving is more than remarkable. Beyond protecting our planet, and although there are things to be done, technology continues to advance.
Today we are going to talk about the scale devised by the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashov in 1964. Nikolai described 3 types of civilizations that may exist, according to the rate of development that they may have achieved. Decades later, the American theoretical physicist futurologist Michio Kaku, would integrate 3 more civilizations. In total, 6 types of different civilizations. To get an idea of where ours is, we must not get demoralized, but we are in type 0. We are at 0,72, and according to the calculations that are taken to measure these advances, we could reach type I in about 100 years.
Where are we currently?
Our civilization is still below Type I. We are only able to harness a fraction of the energy available on Earth. For this reason, the state of our civilization has been called Type 0. Carl Sagan, science communicator widely recognized in part for his television series "Cosmos", among many popular books, performed the calculation of our civilization, using the formula devised by Kardashov. From there 0,7 is deducted which calculated, moreover, the reuse of energy that has been achieved since then.
Michio Kaku, on the other hand, calculated the necessary time that it could take us to pass to each type of civilization, and estimated in about 100 to 200 years to go to Type I. A few thousand to go to Type II and between 100.000 years to a million for Type III.
Although it seems out of science fiction, have been searched by galactic infrared emissions, signs of other civilizations. In 2015, no traces of any Type III civilization were found. Nevertheless, a strange pattern of light surrounding the star KIC 8462852 was striking. Discovery raised speculations on whether it could be a Dyson Sphere. A spherical astronomical megastructure, of radius 1 AU (the distance between the Earth and the Sun).
Types of Civilizations
Although the Types of Civilization on the Kardashov scale are 3, we will expose up to the 6th.
Type I Civilization. Planetary Society
Call "Planetary Society". This Type of Civilization is capable of harness the full power of your own planet. It is capable of modifying the climate, altering the course of earthquakes and volcanoes. It could harness the energy of the so-called "antimatter", and its development in renewable energy would be very advanced and efficient. It could influence the world's flora and fauna at will. Its exponential energy use factor was set at 10 trillion compared to Type 0.
Type II Civilization
10 billion times more powerful than Type I, it has the full ability to harness the total energy on its parent star. You have colonized the other planets in your solar system. It has the ability to travel to other systems close to them. Further, has the ability to even build a Dyson Sphere (hypothetical, the one that we show for example in the following video) that would surround its entire system, to take advantage of the energy of its star and transfer it to the planet that needed it. If their star were to explode, they could eventually block it and escape by migrating from their solar system to another. They would also have control over the other bodies and planets.
Type III Civilization. Galactic Society
This type of civilization, also called "Galactic civilization". They have the ability to harness the full energy of your galaxy. They would fully understand energy. They would have conquered a multitude of solar systems and they could move freely throughout the galaxy. It is speculated that a half biological and cybernetic civilization was found in some way, aided by robots. They could contain supernovae so that they won't explode. Be supposed to they should also be able to control wormholes.
Type IV Civilization
This guy should be capable of harnessing all the energy in the universe, and to be able to move freely through it. It is speculated that even these civilizations could find habitat in supermassive black holes. Something that is hard to imagine. The physical laws they would know are still unknown to us. It is characterized because I could manipulate space / time.
Type V Civilization
Leaving aside common sense. This type of civilization could harness the energy of multiple universes. This is already more metaphysical. I could travel from one universe to another, and the knowledge they would have would be so great that it is inevitable to think that for us it would be something like being Gods. They would have the ability to manipulate the very fabric of reality.
Type VI Civilization
And beyond controlling all the parallel universes, and their structures, where could one go? This type of civilization would find refuge beyond time and space. They could create and destroy at will not universes, but multiverses. It is too abstract how to be defined, they would be omnipotent and omnipresent beings.
The universe, although it may seem otherwise, we have only just begun to understand only a tiny fraction of it.