The universe of the future

One day, humanity will rule the universe

You may have heard of the Kepler Space Telescope, which orbits in space. Kepler has played a massive role in the study of the universe.

In 1890, scientists first observed and recorded a peculiar star in the sky. Its name is Tabby’s Star, or in NASA’s terminology, KIC 8462852. It is an F-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is 1280 light-years, or 390 parsecs. In other words, light takes 1280 years to travel from that star to us (the speed of light is 300,000 km per second). F-type main-sequence stars are similar in size to our Sun but produce far less light and heat. Instead of the Sun’s orange hue, they emit a mix of pale yellow and white light.

We sometimes call this star the “What the F*** Star” because the data we receive from it has astonished us. Our observations show that the star’s brightness increases and decreases in abnormal ways—something that should not happen. This caused a stir across the global scientific community. Many theories began to emerge about this star, one of which is the Dyson Sphere.

The Dyson Sphere is a theory proposed by British theoretical physicist Sir Freeman John Dyson. A Dyson Sphere is an artificial megastructure that completely surrounds a star to capture all of its energy. Such a structure could provide a civilization with infinite power. This raises the question: if someone has built a Dyson Sphere around Tabby’s Star, who are they? To understand that, we need to understand the Kardashev Scale.

In 1964, Russian theoretical physicist Nikolai Kardashev created a scale to measure the advancement of a civilization. This is known as the Kardashev Scale. It includes:

Type I – Planetary Civilization:

A civilization that has colonized all planets in its solar system. This civilization can harness 7×10^17 watts of energy from its central star or sun. It can utilize all the energy of its home planet—such as controlling earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, etc.

Type II – Interstellar Civilization:

A civilization capable of building a Dyson Sphere to capture the full energy output of its star. An interstellar civilization. Meaning it can control all the energy of its star—like our Sun in our case. This civilization can travel beyond its solar system, crossing hundreds or even thousands of light-years, and colonize planets in other star systems.

Type III – Galactic Civilization:

A galactic civilization. Meaning it can harness the energy of an entire galaxy. Such a civilization can travel to every galaxy or star cluster in the universe. They possess infinite knowledge about time and space.

Type IV to Type Omega:

A universal civilization—capable of traveling anywhere in the universe and harvesting energy. These are godlike civilizations so advanced that our limited science and intelligence cannot describe them.

Type V is the ability to influence multiple universes.

It is worth noting that humans are currently at Type 0 or 0.73. It will take at least five hundred years for us to reach Type I. To become a Type I civilization, the first requirement is the elimination of unscientific beliefs and nationalism. And reaching Type II will take hundreds of thousands of years. According to the famous physicist Carl Sagan, “Humanity is still technologically a newborn, slowly moving toward becoming a Type I civilization.”

If what we are seeing around Tabby’s Star is indeed a Dyson Sphere, then it was built by a civilization at least one hundred thousand years ahead of us in knowledge and science. They are so advanced that we would not be able to communicate with them even if we tried. Communicating with them would be like an ant trying to talk to a human.

K = log10 ^ P-6/10
Here, K is the Kardashev rating of a civilization, and P is its energy usage. According to 2015 data, the entire world consumed 550.451 exajoules (550×10^18 J = 13147.3 million BBL), which is 17.35 TW. According to Carl Sagan, we are a Type 0.7239 civilization. I consider anything below 1 as Type 0. So in my view, humanity is still a Type 0 civilization. Sagan’s calculation was based on the Western and developed world, not on emotionally driven societies like ours.

The Kardashev Scale is a very complex formula. For example, a Type III intergalactic civilization would not only be able to travel across galaxies but also manipulate atomic bonds to create materials not found in the periodic table. A Type IV civilization could alter atoms and create entirely artificial multicellular organisms. A Type V civilization could modify atomic nuclei and even artificially create nucleons—something impossible in current physics because it violates the law of conservation of energy. Type VI is what we call divine—beings whose thinking or science cannot be understood with our three-dimensional intelligence. They would be multidimensional beings capable of using fundamental particles like quarks and leptons to create an artificial universe. And finally, the Type Omega civilization—capable of creating multiple universes and dimensions. For them, time and space do not exist. They are immortal, indestructible, and omnipotent. If anything can be called divine power, it would be a being of a Type Omega civilization. I would not call them “living beings” because they have long surpassed biological evolution.

A lot more can be written about the Kardashev Scale. But when writing about science online, we must remember that most readers do not have a background in physics or mathematics. So the simpler and more understandable the writing, the better.

To reach Type I – a planetary civilization – we must abandon the inhumane concepts of nationalism and patriotism. The divisions created by different beliefs must be left behind as history. Otherwise, major superpowers like America, Russia, and China will turn planets and moons into their colonies. That reality may not even exist anymore. There may be no countries or nations on Earth. Humans will become global citizens who think not about the world, but about the solar system.