The
Kardashev
scale

An exploration with the famous scale for developed civilizations. Content in quotes taken from Wikipedia

“ The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement, based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to utilize. The scale has three designated categories called Type I, II, and III. A Type I civilization uses all available resources impinging on its home planet, Type II harnesses all the energy of its star, and Type III of its galaxy. The scale is only hypothetical, but it puts energy consumption in a cosmic perspective. It was first proposed in 1964 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev. Various extensions of the scale have been proposed since, from a wider range of power levels (types 0, IV and V) to the use of metrics other than pure power. ”
—Wikipedia

Examples

  • Cyberpunk novels
  • Our current status: Earth

Type 0 Civilization

Energy requirements: (100-15 W)

“A Type 0 civilization extracts its energy, information, raw-materials from crude organic-based sources (i.e. food/wood/fossil fuel/books/oral tradition); pressures via natural disaster, selection, and societal collapse creates extreme (99.9%) risk of extinction; it's capable of orbital spaceflight; in fiction, societies that fail to improve social, environmental and medical understanding concurrently with other advancements, frequently accelerated their own extinction.”

Type 1 Civilization

Energy requirements: (1016 W)

“A Type I civilization extracts its energy, information, and raw-materials from fusion power, hydrogen, and other "high-density" renewable-resources; is capable of interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary communication, megascale engineering, and colonization, medical and technological singularity, planetary engineering, world government, trade and defense, and stellar system-scale influence; but are still vulnerable to extinction.”

Examples

  • Many popular Sci-Fi novels
  • Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
  • Gears of War
Dyson Sphere
Credit: Wikipedia

Examples

  • Star Trek
  • Halo Universe: UNSC Enterprise
  • Mass Effect: Asari, Salarians, Turians

Type 2 Civilization

Energy requirements: (1026 W)

“A Type II civilization extracts fusion energy, information, and raw-materials from multiple solar systems; it is capable of evolutionary intervention, interstellar travel, interstellar communication, stellar engineering, and star cluster-scale influence; the resulting proliferation and diversification would theoretically negate the probability of extinction.”

Type 3 Civilization

Energy requirements: (1036 W)

“A Type III civilization extracts fusion energy, information, and raw-materials from all possible star-clusters; it's capable of intergalactic travel via wormholes, intergalactic communication, galactic engineering and galaxy-scale influence.”

Examples

  • Star Wars Universe
  • Star Maker (Olaf Stapledon)
Galaxy power
Credit: Star Wars Wiki

Examples

  • Commonwealth/Void Saga
  • The Dancers at the End of Time
  • Doctor Who
  • Star Trek Universe: Q Continuum
  • Lexx
  • Bionicle Universe
  • DC Comics: Guardians of the Universe
  • Xeelee
  • Halo Forerunners

Type 4 Civilization

Energy requirements: (1046 W)

“A Type IV civilization extracts energy, information, and raw-materials from all possible galaxies; it's effectively immortal and omnipotent with universal-scale influence, possessing the ability of theoretical time travel and instantaneous matter-energy transformation and teleportation (their apparent abilities may include moving entire asteroid belts and stars, creating alternate timelines, and affecting universal states of nature such as the gravitational constant); in fiction, these civilizations may be perceived as omnipresence/omnipotent gods.”

Beyond Type 4...

Energy requirements: (10???? W)

“Such hypothetical civilizations have either transcended their universe of origin or arose within a multiverse or other higher-order membrane of existence, and are capable of universe-scale manipulation of individual discrete universes from an external frame of reference. In fiction, their "god-like" artifacts or endowed abilities (such as monolith) find their way into the hands of relatively juvenile "Type 0" civilizations (such as humanity).”

heaven type 5 meme
Credit: QuickMeme

Examples

  • Magic the Gathering: Infinite Consortium
  • Downstreamers: [Manifold: Time]
  • Half Life: Combine

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