The Kardashev Scale

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The Kardashev Scale

The Kardashev Scale is a logarithmic rating for a civilization's development or technology, used to hypothesize about alien civilizations or make predictions about our own future advancement.

Kurzgesagt Cool Worlds
Isaac Arthur

Modified Kardashev Scale, based on Watts:
In case the above formatting is broken: K = (log(W) - 7.38) / 9.73

  • Nuclear, solar -> only ways to Type I1
  • Heat dissipation becomes a huge issue for Type I civilization, inevitably.1 Regardless of the greenhouse effect, any planet increasing its energy use must get hotter.
  • Solar power on earth is limited by the Carnot Limit to ~68.7% efficiency.1 A more realistic limit is 30% efficiency.
  • The Kardashev Scale
    • Based on this, I propose population scales and a modified Kardashev Scale for local governments/systems/collections of systems. Of course.. that doesn't apply as well with FTL travel being commonplace.
  • Another reference, with pretty animations: What Do Alien Civilizations Look Like? The Kardashev Scale by Kurzgesagt

Isaac Arthur on the Kardashev Scale

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