Entry requirements for a Type n civilization
This question about genetics (not required reading) contains the phrase "science of a Type II civilization." This got me to thinking: although we intuitively know what this means, does this actually tell us anything? After all, the only requirement to advance on the Kardashev scale is to have the capability to harness a particular amount of energy. What does that tell us about their medical or fundamental physics knowledge?
- It seems to me that it would require no more knowledge than we have today to construct a Dyson Sphere to harness the energy of the Sun (which would make us a Type II civilization regardless of whether we actually use that much energy, as Isaac pointed out). Although the will is not there, the capacity certainly is.
- Compare this to the future as depicted by Star Trek, for example. They (humans) are most likely a type I (the Enterprise is stated to generate on the order of $10^{12}~\text{W}$, vs. the $10^{16}~\text{W}$ required for a Type I, so their civilization as a whole is probably just over Type I), and they regard the Dyson sphere from that one episode as an impressive accomplishment, on as scale which they previously considered to be theoretical. This is despite the fact that they're zipping around the galaxy with
space wizard magicadvanced technology far beyond our current understanding of physics.
The Question
What level of development is required to reach Type $n\in\left\{1,2,3\right\}$ on the Kardashev scale (using Sagan's definition)? Put another way, what knowledge is absolutely necessary to harness the requisite amounts of power? Areas of knowledge that you may consider include, but are not limited to:
- Fundamental physics, including classical physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics
- Mathematics, including calculus, statistics, abstract math, and computer science
- Engineering, including materials science and metrology
- 'Soft' sciences, including biology, medicine, sociology, and economics
You can also discuss knowledge that may not be necessary to harness planetary/stellar/galactic amounts of energy, but must, or will almost certainly be learned beforehand. (For example, perhaps a certain knowledge of sociology would be gained in the course of coordinating a project on such a large scale.)
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/13595. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
The scales are fairly similar for each component you mention: simply, as you have a greater understanding of all of those fields, you are able to harness more and more energy.
The fields you mention have a sort-of order of fundamentality. Engineering is impossible without physics; physics is impossible without mathematics (as are many of the soft sciences). So, essentially, the greater your understanding of mathematics, the more energy you are able to harness.
To put that another way, you can have Einstein and Newton and all the famous physicists and combine their brains, but unless you also have some mathematicians working out their principles, your scientists can't do anything significant.
To me, the "soft" sciences aren't so necessary here. Power is all about physics, not people: knowing how someone's brain understands and remembers all the physics isn't going to help you build a giant star-generator. The rest will develop at a similar rate, but with the more specialized/less fundamental fields lagging behind a bit. Adding to that, since power harnessing relies on engineering, power harnessing ability can never rise above the level of engineering, and will probably follow the pattern of lagging behind a bit. For your convenience, I shall provide a bar chart:
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+-------+---------+-------------+-----------------+
Maths Physics Engineering POWER HARNESSED
If we put some lines across that to represent Kardashev levels, we can see that it is even possible for a civilization to have mathematics one or conceivably even two levels above their civilization's level:
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D|---------------------------------------------------- Kardashev III
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p|---|--------|-----------|--------------------------- Kardashev II
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t|---|--------|-----------|---------------|----------- Kardashev I
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+-------+---------+-------------+-----------------+
Maths Physics Engineering POWER HARNESSED
This does explain your Star Trek point: perhaps the technologies that enable them to zip across the universe so quickly have been refined through physics and engineering so they don't actually use that much power: thus, the power required is still in their power available to harvest. They have been able to refine this technology because they have knowledge of physics and engineering more advanced than their ability to harness power. Probably they set their scientists onto developing interstellar travel instead of power generation.
And yes, I am proud of my ASCII bar charts.
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