Kardashev scale projections for human civilization ranging from years 1900 to 2030, based on data from the International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook

The Kardashev scale is a general method of classifying how technologically advanced a civilization is. The International Energy Agency ( IEA, or AIE in Romance languages) is a Paris -based intergovernmental organization founded by the Organisation Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements It was first proposed in 1964 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev (Никола́й Семёнович Кардашёв (born April 25, 1932 The scale has three designated categories called Type I, II and III. These are based on the amount of usable energy a civilization has at its disposal, and the degree of space colonization. In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός In general terms, a Type I civilization has achieved mastery of the resources of its home planet, Type II of its solar system, and Type III of its galaxy. ^[1]

Energy Use

Energy is a static quantity and is denoted in joules. In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός The joule (written in lower case ˈdʒuːl or /ˈdʒaʊl/ (symbol J) is the SI unit of Energy measuring heat, Electricity Power is a measure of energy over time, and is denoted in watts (joules per second). In Physics, power (symbol P) is the rate at which work is performed or energy is transmitted or the amount of energy required or expended for The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second. The three levels of the Kardashev Scale can be quantified in units of power (watts) and plotted on an increasing logarithmic scale. The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second. Definition and base Logarithmic scales are either defined for ratios of the underlying quantity or one has to agree to measure

• Type I — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available on a single planet —has approximately 10¹⁶ or 10¹⁷ W available. In Physics, power (symbol P) is the rate at which work is performed or energy is transmitted or the amount of energy required or expended for A planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU is a celestial body Orbiting a Star or stellar remnant that is ^[2] Earth specifically has an available power of 1. 74 ×10¹⁷ W (174 petawatts, see Earth's energy budget). In Physics and Mathematics, peta- (symbol P) is a prefix in the SI ( System of units) denoting 1015 The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second. The Earth can be considered as a physical system with an energy budget that includes all gains of incoming energy and all losses of outgoing energy Kardashev's original definition was 4 ×10¹² W — a "technological level close to the level presently attained on earth" (presently meaning 1964). ^[3]
• Type II — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available from a single star, approximately 4 ×10²⁶ W. A star is a massive luminous ball of plasma. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the Energy on Earth ^[2] Again, this figure is variable; the Sun outputs approximately 3. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. 86 ×10²⁶ W. Kardashev's original definition was also 4 ×10²⁶ W^[3].
• Type III — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available from a single galaxy, approximately 4 ×10³⁷ W. A galaxy is a massive gravitationally bound system consisting of Stars an Interstellar medium of gas and dust, and Dark matter ^[2] This figure is extremely variable, since galaxies vary widely in size; the stated figure is the approximate power output of the Milky Way. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply Kardashev's original definition was also 4 ×10³⁷ W. ^[3].

Using our nuclear explosion tests as a perspective, Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, released an estimated 57 megaton yield; even a Type I civilization makes use of roughly 25 megatons of TNT equivalent a second. Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness yield and explosive capability of Nuclear weapons Throughout the twentieth century most nations Tsar Bomba (ru Царь-бомба literally " King Bomb" is the Western name for the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (codenamed "Иван" (Ivan by its A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. A Type II civilization consumes 4x10⁹ times more energy (4 billion hydrogen bombs per second), and a type III 10¹¹ times more yet.

Current human civilization has a Kardashev value of about 0. 7. However, the Kardashev scale was not developed to model a specific civilization. It's primarily used by SETI researchers, science fiction authors, and futurists as a theoretical framework. Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence ( SETI) is the collective name for a number of activities to detect intelligent Extraterrestrial life. Futures Studies, Foresight, or Futurology is the science art and practice of postulating possible probable and preferable futures and the worldviews

Current status of human civilization

Human civilization is currently somewhere below Type I, as it is able to harness only a portion of the energy that is available on Earth. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus The current state of human civilization has thus been named Type 0. Although intermediate values were not discussed in Kardashev's original proposal, Carl Sagan argued that they could easily be defined by interpolating and extrapolating the values given above. Carl Edward Sagan ( November 9 1934 &ndash December 20 1996) was an American Astronomer, astrochemist, author In the mathematical subfield of Numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a Discrete set of In Mathematics, extrapolation is the process of constructing new data points outside a Discrete set of known data points In 1973, he calculated humanity's civilization type to be 0. 7, in relationship to Kardashev's model for Types 0 and I. ^[4]

Sagan used the formula:

Value K is a civilization's Kardashev rating and W is its power output in watts. Sagan used 10TW as value W, which was considerably higher than present data suggests. ^[5] Sagan's overestimation makes little difference in regards to human civilizations K rating, effecting only a difference of 1% in the value of K (See Table Below). International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook (2005)^[5] and section 7 of Key World Energy Statistics^[6] project values for planetary power production yielding these corresponding Kardashev scale estimates:

Further information: World energy resources and consumption

Energy development

Methods by which a civilization could feasibly advance to Type I:

• Large scale application of fusion power. Fusion power is power generated by Nuclear fusion reactions In this kind of reaction two light atomic nuclei fuse Type I implies the generation of about 5kg of energy per second. This can be achieved by fusing about 1000 kg of hydrogen into helium each second, a rate of about 3 x 10¹⁰ kg/year. Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 Helium ( He) is a colorless odorless tasteless non-toxic Inert Monatomic Chemical A cubic km of water contains about 10¹¹ kg of hydrogen, and the Earth's oceans contain about 1.3 x 10⁹ cubic km of water. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. So this rate of production can be sustained over geological time scales.
• Anti-matter production is still beyond our civilization's ability to utilize as a power source,^[9] but any civilization with the technological ability to produce or collect anti-matter^[10] in large quantities cheaply, would have a mechanism to produce power on a scale several factors above our current level of technology. In Particle physics and Quantum chemistry, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the Antiparticle to Matter, where antimatter is composed In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra Energy which it possesses due to its motion The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy (compared to TNT), about 4 orders of magnitude greater than the energy that humans liberated today using nuclear fission, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than the best possible from fusion. Energy density is the amount of Energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit Volume, or per unit Mass, depending on the context although An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός Trinitrotoluene ( TNT) is a Chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO23CH3 Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus ^[11] The reaction of 1 kg of anti-matter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1. 8×10¹⁷ J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc²), or roughly the equivalent of 47 megatons of TNT. The joule (written in lower case ˈdʒuːl or /ˈdʒaʊl/ (symbol J) is the SI unit of Energy measuring heat, Electricity In Physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that for particles slower than light any Mass has an associated Energy and vice versa. For energy comparisons see anti-matter as a fuel source
• Solar energy - converting sunlight into electricity by either solar cells or indirectly through wind and hydroelectric power. In Particle physics and Quantum chemistry, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the Antiparticle to Matter, where antimatter is composed Solar energy is the Light and radiant heat from the Sun that powers Earth 's Climate and Weather and sustains Life A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts Solar energy into Electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Wind Power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form such as electricity using Wind turbines At the end of 2007 worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by Hydropower, ie the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water Currently, there is no known way for human civilization to successfully utilize the equivalent of the Earth's total absorbed solar energy without completely coating the surface with man-made structures, which is presently not feasible. A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements However, if a civilization constructed very large space-based power satellites, Type I power levels might be achievable. A solar power satellite, or SPS or Powersat, as originally proposed would be a Satellite built in High Earth orbit that uses Microwave

Figure of a Dyson swarm surrounding a star

Type II civilizations might employ:

• A Dyson sphere or Dyson swarm and similar constructs are hypothetical megastructures originally described by Freeman Dyson as a system of orbiting solar power satellites meant to completely enclose a star and capture most or all of its energy output. A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. A megastructure is a built structure typically at least 1000 kilometers in length -- in other words at least 1 Megameter, hence the name Freeman John Dyson FRS (born December 15, 1923) is an English-born American theoretical Physicist and Mathematician, famous for his A solar power satellite, or SPS or Powersat, as originally proposed would be a Satellite built in High Earth orbit that uses Microwave A star is a massive luminous ball of plasma. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the Energy on Earth ^[12]
• Perhaps a more exotic means to generate usable energy would be to feed a stellar mass into a black hole, and collect photons emitted by the accretion disc. A black hole is a theoretical region of space in which the Gravitational field is so powerful that nothing not even Electromagnetic radiation (e An accretion disc (or accretion disk) is a structure (often a Circumstellar disk) formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a central body ^[13][14] Less exotic would be simply to capture photons already escaping from the accretion disc, reducing a black holes angular momentum known as the Penrose process. In Physics, the angular momentum of a particle about an origin is a vector quantity equal to the mass of the particle multiplied by the Cross product of the position The Penrose process (also called Penrose mechanism) is a process theorised by Roger Penrose wherein energy can be extracted from a Rotating black hole.
• In sufficiently large number of stellar systems, absorbing a small but significant fraction of the output of each individual star.

Type III civilizations might use the same techniques employed by a Type II civilization, but applied to all of the stars of one or more galaxies individually. ^[15]

Dr. Michio Kaku has discussed a type IV civilization, which could harness "extragalactic" energy sources such as dark energy, in his book Parallel Worlds. Dr Michio Kaku (b January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist specializing in String field theory, and a Futurist In Physical cosmology, dark energy is a hypothetical exotic form of Energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe Parallel Worlds A Journey Through Creation Higher Dimensions and the Future of the Cosmos was copyrighted by Michio Kaku in 2005 ^[16]

Civilization implications

There are many historical examples of civilizations undergoing large-scale transitions, such as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the The transition between Kardashev scale levels could potentially represent similarly dramatic periods of social upheaval, since they entail surpassing the hard limits of the resources available in a civilization's existing territory. A common speculation^[17] suggests that the transition from Type 0 to Type I might carry a strong risk of self-destruction since there would no longer be room for further expansion on the civilization's home planet, similar to a Malthusian catastrophe. A Malthusian catastrophe (or Malthusian check, crisis, dilemma, disaster, trap, controls, or limit) is a return Excessive use of energy without adequate disposal of heat, for example, could make the planet of a civilization approaching Type I unsuitable to the biology of the dominant life-forms and their food sources. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus If Earth is an example, then sea temperatures in excess of 35°C would menace marine life and make the cooling of mammals to temperatures suitable for their metabolism difficult if not impossible. Metabolism is the set of Chemical reactions that occur in living Organisms in order to maintain Life.

Extensions to the original scale

The sub-Type I state that human civilization currently occupies was not originally included in the Kardashev scale but is now referred to as "Type 0" or by its K value using Sagan's logarithmic formula (described above).

Zoltan Galantai has defined a further extrapolation of the scale, a Type IV level which controls the energy output of the visible universe; this is within a few orders of magnitude of 10⁴⁵ W. The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Such a civilization approaches or surpasses the limits of speculation based on current scientific understanding, and may not be possible. Frank J. Tipler's Omega point would presumably occupy this level, as would the Biocosm hypothesis. Frank Jennings Tipler III (born February 1, 1947 in Andalusia Alabama Prof The Omega Point is a term used by Tulane University professor of mathematics and physics Frank J In Physics and Cosmology, the anthropic principle states that humans should take into account the constraints that human existence imposes on the kind of theoretical Galantai has argued that such a civilization could not be detected, as its activities would be indistinguishable from the workings of nature (there being nothing to compare them to). ^[18]

However, Milan M. Ćirković has argued that "Type IV" should instead be used to refer to a civilization that has harnessed the power of its supercluster, or "the largest gravitationally bound structure it originated in". Superclusters are large groupings of smaller galaxy groups and clusters, and are among the largest structures of the Cosmos. ^[19] For the Local Supercluster, this would be approximately 10⁴² W. The Virgo Supercluster or Local Supercluster is the galactic Supercluster that contains the Local Group, the latter containing in its turn

In contrast to simply increasing the maximum power level covered by the scale, Carl Sagan suggested adding another dimension: the information available to the civilization. Carl Edward Sagan ( November 9 1934 &ndash December 20 1996) was an American Astronomer, astrochemist, author He assigned the letter A to represent 10⁶ unique bits of information (less than any recorded human culture) and each successive letter to represent an order of magnitude increase, so that a level Z civilization would have 10³¹ bits. In this classification, 1973 Earth is a 0. 7H civilization, with access to 10¹³ bits of information. Sagan believed that no civilization has yet reached level Z, conjecturing that so much unique information would exceed that of all the intelligent species in a galactic supercluster and observing that the universe is not old enough to effectively exchange information over larger distances. Superclusters are large groupings of smaller galaxy groups and clusters, and are among the largest structures of the Cosmos. The information and energy axes are independent, so that even a level Z civilization would not need to be Kardeshev Type III. ^[20]

Classifying fictional civilizations

These categorizations are not firm, and are neither complete nor absolute. Most science fiction space opera writers do not specifically write their works with Kardashev classification in mind. Isaac Asimov's short story The Last Question covers many of the same themes as Kardashev's papers, in its descriptions of the future use of energy and entropy by human civilization; however it does not mention the scale, as it was written in 1956. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian "The Last Question" is a Science fiction Short story by Isaac Asimov.

• Type I
  • The Pierson's Puppeteers from Larry Niven's Known Space books. Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. Known Space is the fictional setting of several Science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. Their society consumes so much power from Total conversion that surface temperatures are maintained, by waste heat, even after the planet is moved 1/10th of a light year away from its star. Power production must therefore be equivalent to the previous insolation. Insolation is a measure of Solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time See Fleet of Worlds.
  • The Krell, the (extinct) inhabitants of Forbidden Planet. "Krell" is one of the names of the first boss in the Video game R-Type, it is also known as the Gladiator Forbidden Planet is a 1956 Science fiction film directed by Fred M They left behind a facility of enormous power (described as 9600 thermonuclear generators occupying 33000 cubic kilometers), though the purpose was initially unknown. However, a monster created by Dr. Morbius's id was able to tap into this power. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of According to the power meters shown in the generating plant during the attack, energy use was about 10¹⁵ times that used by Dr. Morbius and his daughter under normal conditions. Assuming normal use would be 1-10 KW, this puts them at Type I or slightly above.

• Type II
  • The United Federation of Planets of Star Trek^[21]
  • The People of the Worldsphere of Doctor Who first seen in The Also People. The United Federation of Planets, (also known as the "The Federation" or UFP) is a fictional interplanetary state depicted in the Star Trek Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The Also People is an original novel written by Ben Aaronovitch and based on the long-running British science fiction television series
  • The territory of Eelong in the Pendragon Series by D. J. MacHale utilizes all power from a belt of suns known as the Skaa. The Pendragon Adventure is a young adult series of Fantasy Novels by D Donald James MacHale, known popularly under the pen name D J MacHale, is a writer director and executive producer ^[22]
  • The Galactic Empire of The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov is a galaxy-spanning civilization which possesses the technology necessary to harness energy on a planetary level. The Foundation Series is an epic Science fiction series written over a span of forty-four years by Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian Combined with the large number of planets, this produces a Type II civilization.

• Type III
  • The Asgard from the Sci-Fi series Stargate. Thor's race employs technology allowing them to cause time dialation. Their ships are capable of crossing the voids between galaxies in mere days to weeks.
  • The Galactic Republic of Star Wars by George Lucas is a galaxy-spanning society. History The Republic itself was formed on or near 25000 BBY when the first "Galactic Constitution" was signed on Coruscant, after the Corellian Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded George Walton Lucas Jr (born May 14, 1944) is an Academy Award -winning American Film director, producer, Screenwriter It has constructed planet-destroying space platforms which expend energy consistent with a Type III civilization, albeit not continuously. ^[23]
  • Dr. Michio Kaku has argued the Borg Collective of Star Trek represent a Type III civilization. Dr Michio Kaku (b January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist specializing in String field theory, and a Futurist The Borg are a fictional pseudo- race of Cyborgs depicted in the Star Trek franchise ^[21]
  • The Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. William Olaf Stapledon ( May 10, 1886 &ndash September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works The stellar energy output of the whole galaxy is utilized by the Galactic Community of Worlds. ^[24]
  • Manifold: Time, by Stephen Baxter - in the distant future, descendants of humanity maintain vast Dyson nets around the supermassive black hole remnants of galaxies until they evaporate via Hawking radiation, accessing the energy equivalent of multiple galaxies. Manifold Time is a Science fiction Novel by Stephen Baxter. It is Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957 is a British Hard science fiction Author. A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. A supermassive black hole is a Black hole with a Mass of an order of magnitude between 105 and 1 Hawking radiation (also known as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation) is a Thermal radiation with a black body spectrum predicted to be emitted by Black holes
  • The Forerunners, of the Halo (series) and its universe, had the power to wipe out life on a galactic scale and had done so before to eradicate the parasitic species known as the Flood, wiping themselves out in the process. The bestselling ''Halo'' franchise takes place in the fictional Halo universe where there are four major factions players encounter or control Halo is a Science fiction Video game franchise created by Bungie and owned and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Flood are fictional parasitic alien life forms in Bungie 's Halo video game series They also were able to create such megastructures as the dyson sphere and 'shunt' them into slipspace. " Slipstream " is a Science fiction term for a fictional method of Faster-than-light space travel similar to hyperspace travel Warp
  • The Therians from AT-43, a science fiction themed strategy game by Rackham. AT-43 is a Science fiction Tabletop wargame using 28 mm miniature figures and terrain to scale developed and published by the French company Rackham ( is a French miniature and Role-playing games production company established in 1997 The Therians have constructed dyson shells around a very large number of stars including every star in the Milky Way galaxy and an unknown number of stars from nearby galaxies. A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply

• Type IV and above
  • The Q Continuum and its individual members in the Star Trek mythos
  • The Time Lords of Doctor Who - in the story The Gallifrey Chronicles the Time Lord Marnal claims "The Time Lords were the Type 4 civilization. In the Star Trek universe the Q Continuum is an extradimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of extremely powerful hyper-intelligent beings known as The Time Lords are a fictional race and civilization in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The Gallifrey Chronicles is the title of two distinct books related to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who We had no equals. We controlled the fundamental forces of the entire universe. Nothing could communicate with us on our level. Most races pray to lesser beings than the Time Lords"^[25]
  • The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock - a past civilization is described which consumed all the energy in all the stars in the universe (saving Earth's own sun) in order to fuel an existence where the inheritors of the Earth lived as nigh-omnipotent gods. The Dancers at the End of Time is a series of Science fiction Novels and Short stories written by Michael Moorcock, the setting of which is the Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also
  • The Ancients from the Stargate mythos invented a machine to harness all the power of this universe and other universes, by using Zero-point energy. The Ancients are a Humanoid race in the fictional Stargate universe Stargate refers to the Science fiction Media franchise owned by MGM that began in 1994 with the Feature film Stargate In Physics, the zero-point energy is the lowest possible Energy that a Quantum mechanical Physical system may possess and is the energy of the Unfortunately it never worked properly, creating a large amount of uncontrollable exotic particles. The Ancients did finally achieve powers over the universe by Ascending to another plane of existence. In This is an example of Transhumanism in fiction. Many of the tropes of Science fiction can be viewed as similar to the goals of Transhumanism.
  • In Isaac Asimov's science fiction novel "The Last Question", humanity is able to harness the power of the entire Universe
  • In Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence, the Photino Birds harness the power of all of stars in the universe and the Xeelee, another universe spanning civilization, flee to other universes. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian "The Last Question" is a Science fiction Short story by Isaac Asimov. The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957 is a British Hard science fiction Author. The Xeelee Sequence is a series of novels and short stories by British Science fiction author Stephen Baxter. This article details the various alien races and human offshots present in Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence of future history This article details the various alien races and human offshots present in Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence of future history
  • In the video game series Half-Life, the Combine is an alien empire that spans an undefined number of parallel universes, due to the unique ability to control inter-dimensional travel (by means of Dark Fusion reactor). The Combine expands its empire by invading worlds and enslaving the dominant species to be exploited as it sees fit.

Criticism

It has been argued that, because we cannot understand advanced civilizations, we cannot predict their behavior; thus, Kardashev's visualization may not reflect what will actually occur for an advanced civilization. This central argument is found within the book Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life. Evolving the Alien The Science of Extraterrestrial Life (2002 published in the US and UK second edition as What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial ^[26]

References

Further reading

See also

• Astroengineering
• Clarke's three laws
• Drake equation
• World energy resources and consumption
• Orders of magnitude (power)
• Orders of magnitude (energy)

External links

• Kardashev civilizations
• Detectability of Extraterrestrial Technological Activities
• Flash Animation on Civilizations
• After Kardashev: Farewell to Super Civilizations