Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, wrote a fascinating article in COSMOS magazine comparing our current state of knowledge and "level" of civilization with what is possible in the universe.
In a seminal paper published in 1964 in the Journal of Soviet Astronomy, Russian astrophysicist Nicolai Kardashev theorised that advanced civilisations must thus be grouped according to three Types: I, II and III, signifying mastery of, respectively, planetary, stellar and galactic forms of energy usage. He calculated that the energy consumption of these three types of civilisations would be separated by a factor of about 10 billion.
Where are we right now? Not even type I (according to Carl Sagan, we're at 0.7!), but we're getting getting there! There are already evidence everywhere of an emerging Type I civilization.
It's a fascinating read: in the article, Michio speculates about von Neumann probes visiting Earth, the perils of encountering Type III civilization, harnessing the energy equivalent to that of a blackhole, and more!
The colored woodcut above is by Austrian artist Heikenwaelder Hugo, titled Universum (1998). It is inspired by the black and white Flammarian Woodcut (c. 1888).
Sorry, but the Heikenwaelder version seems to be a poor, colorized version of the original, and doesn't seem to illuminate the scientific article or the subject in any way.
The concept is compelling though, and makes sense. We can't do any more than the power we possess affords. That works as an existential tenet or a modus operandi. Food for thought, not just on the planetary, etc. level but on the personal level - as a way to live your life.
Get more power!!!
There certainly is an almost endless precedence on "laws of nature" we just knew were an absolute only to have them turn into myth and alchemy as science progressed over time.
also 'harnessing the energy equivalent to that of a blackhole' is'nt really saying anything because as far as i've read - they can conceivably be any size and therefore contain even the smallest amount of info/energy.
We'll be lucky if we last the billions of years it takes to get to any of these stages.
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