There are many ways to measure the progress of civilization. Population growth, the rise and fall of empires, and our technological ability to reach for the stars are some of the things that have happened.
calculate the amount of energy humans use at any given time Harnessing energy is one of the most useful skills we have.
The energy consumption of a species is a good indicator of its technological prowess. The idea behind the Kardashev Scale is this.
The scale was proposed in 1964. There are three types of civilizations: planetary, stellar, and galactic.
A type I species can harness energy on a scale equal to the amount of stellar energy that reaches its home planet. The energy of its home star can be harnessed byType II species, and the energy of its home galaxy can be harnessed byType III.
The idea of a continuous scale of measurement was suggested by Carl Sagan.
What type of civilization are we? Although humans use a lot of energy, we don't qualify as type I.
The average amount of solar energy that reaches Earth is 1016 watt. We are currently at about 0.73 on the sliding scale.
It's not bad for a bunch of evolved primate, but it raises an interesting question. Is it possible that we could reachType I? We cannot capture all the sunlight that reaches Earth and still have a planet.
There are three types of Kardeshev civilizations. It's called "CC-by-sa 3.0."
The question is studied in a paper. Fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewable are the primary sources of energy and the paper looks at their potential growth over time.
On the other hand, reaching Type I would be hard. You will get there in the end if you make the production of energy your top priority. Each type of energy source has limitations.
It could lead to a level of climate change that could end us all in a Great Filter if we burn every ounce of fossil fuel we can. If you are extinct, you cannot become a type I civilization.
The team takes a more nuanced approach, analyzing the physical limitations of each type of energy source, and balancing them against the need to limit climate change and pollution levels as outlined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency.
They found that it is possible for humans to reach a type I level. We will not reach that level until at least at least 2341.
That is not a bad thing. The scale of human technology is measured using the Kardashev Scale.
Advances in low-power computing and increased efficiency allow us to decrease or flatten our energy consumption while continuing to advance technologically.
It is possible that we will be advanced when we realize we do not need to.
The article was published by Universe Today. The original article is worth a read.
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