Human civilization is currently somewhere below Type I, as it is - TopicsExpress

Human civilization is currently somewhere below Type I, as it is able to harness only a portion of the energy that is available on Earth. The current state of human civilization has thus been named Type 0. Although intermediate values were not discussed in Kardashevs original proposal, Carl Sagan argued that they could easily be defined by interpolating and extrapolating the values given above. In 1973, he calculated humanitys civilization type to be 0.7, in relationship to Kardashevs model for Types 0 and I. Type 0 Civilization Essentially, our civilization. A type 0 civilization has only just begun to tap planetary resources such as solar power, geothermal power and wind power. Most of its power generation is still based on non-renewable fossil fuel resources, for example, oil, coal and natural gases. Type 1 civilization These civilizations can effectively control the entire resources of their planet; they can predict weather patterns and earthquakes very accurately, and even control them using artificially induced greenhouse effects or space-based lasers. A Type 1 Civilization could conceivably halt an ice-age. Type 2 Civilization Type 2 Civilizations have extended their power to their entire Solar System by harnessing the power of their suns through Dyson spheres. Having colonized or at least extensively explored all the planets within their Solar System, they are a largely space-faring race and have already mounted expeditions to other stars using interstellar craft. Type 3 Civilization At the cusp of their power, type 3 civilizations span entire galaxies having colonized all the stars by wave after wave of interstellar craft. They can harness the power of galaxies. Astrophysicists theorize that this may be done by exploiting the fact that black holes can be used as a source of energy as they slowly evaporate via Hawking radiation. By utilizing the millions of black holes that are believed to reside within galactic nuclei, type 3 civilizations would have sufficient power to conduct truly universe-changing high-energy physics experiments and examine matter down to the Planck length. At this point, the exact potential of type 3 civilizations becomes unclear due to our hazy knowledge of ultrahigh-energy physics. It is conceivable (as physicists such as Michio Kaku and Lawrence Krauss believe) that such energies could unravel matter down to the super-string length and thus possibly access other dimensions. However, we must stress that this is only informed conjecture and frankly well never know what type 3 civilizations will be able to do until we either become one or encounter one.