To previous methods of generating energy, these kinds of feats are considered impossible.

(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 may live inside supermassive black holes). Many think so, but a few believe there is a further level that could be achieved. He thought that, surely, this would be the extent of any species’ ability. Kardashev believed a Type IV civilization was ‘too’ advanced and didn’t go beyond Type III on his scale. 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?Īn artist rendering of such a civilization (Credit: Sid Meier's Civilization IV) But let’s say we didn’t want to move Earth. Or if we had time, we could move our planet out of the way, completely dodging it. 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-we’d have the ability to vaporize it out of existence. What would this much energy mean for a species? Well, nothing known to science could wipe out a Type II civilization. Nearby gas giants can be utilized for their hydrogen, slowly drained of life by an orbiting reactor. 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.

The most popular of which is the hypothetical ‘Dyson Sphere.' 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. Several methods for this have been proposed. The next step up - a Type II civilization - can harness the power of their entire star (not merely transforming starlight into energy, but controlling the star).

But what does each of these categories actually stand for in literal terms?Ī Dyson Sphere (Credit: Slawek Wojtowicz) Kaku tends to believe that, all things taken into consideration, we will reach Type I in 100 – 200 years time. 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). These additions consider both energy access as well as the amount of knowledge the civilizations have access to.įirst, it is important to note that the human race is not even on this scale yet. 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). It has 3 base classes, each with an energy disposal level: Type I (10¹⁶W), Type II (10²⁶W), and Type III (10³⁶W). The scale was originally designed in 1964 by the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev (who was looking for signs of extraterrestrial life within cosmic signals).

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