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Concept
Kardashev scale
Summary
The Kardashev scale (Shkala Kardasheva) is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964 and came to bear his name.
The scale is hypothetical, and regards energy consumption on a cosmic scale. Various extensions of the scale have since been proposed, including a wider range of power levels (types 0, IV to V) and the use of metrics other than pure power (e.g., computational growth or food consumption).
Kardashev first outlined his scale in a paper presented at the 1964 Byurakan conference, a scientific meeting that reviewed the Soviet radio astronomy space listening program. This paper, entitled "Передача информации внеземными цивилизациями" ("Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations"), proposes a classification of civilizations into three types, based on the postulate of exponential progression:
A type I civilization is able to access all the energy available on its planet and store it for consumption. Hypothetically, they should also be able to control natural events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.
A type II civilization can directly consume the energy of a star, most likely through the use of a Dyson sphere.
A type III civilization is able to capture all the energy emitted by its galaxy, including energy from any objects in that galaxy, such as every star, black holes, etc.
In a second article, entitled "Strategies of Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" published in 1980, Kardashev wonders about the ability of civilization, which he defines by its capacity to access energy, to maintain itself and to integrate information from its environment. Two other articles followed: "On the Inevitability and the Possible Structure of Supercivilizations" and "Cosmology and Civilizations", published respectively in 1985 and 1997; the Soviet astronomer proposes tracks to detect super-civilizations and to direct the SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) programs.
Official source
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