Kardashev Scale

Definition
The Kardashev scale is a simple method of measuring a civilization’s advancement in technology. A type n civilization is capable of using $$10^{10n+6}$$ watts of energy at any present moment for $$n$$ Kardashev Scale, without any artificial help from the outside.

The scale was defined by the soviet astronomer Nikolai S. Kardashev in 1964 in the Soviet Astronomy journal, whilst theorizing about how advanced civilizations would transmit data.

The original proposal dealt with data transmission and bits, rather than the conventional watts and energy usage, which comes out of Carl Sagan’s 1973 modification on the scale. The scale covers types I, II, and III, but it is not limited to only those types.

Problems with the scale
This scale works fine for civilizations within our Metaverse and the local region around it, but even within our own Universe it has its downfalls. For one, it assumes that a civilization is more advanced the more energy it can use. The problem is that it is not actually necessary to use a lot of energy in order to become more advanced, or to even build technology capable using a lot of energy.

A good example of this would be the Vuhmou people from Chetoma, who might be considered primitive from the outside, yet are mathematically much more advanced than the average Chetoman person.

How Kardashev civilizations function
Civilizations that range from type 0 and lower are usually either very early ones or aren’t energy-based. The latter being more the case in further regions of our Xenoverse. The proceeding types of civilizations will be set within our Universe for sake of convenience and simplicity. Humanity would place 0.73 on this scale, as humanity produced 14864.9 Mtoe in 2019, making them a high type 0.

A type I civilization could use all of the power of their home planet. This is assuming the planet isn’t extremely large or small, and is also rock based rather than a gas giant. A couple ways of achieving this include: large scale nuclear fusion, renewable energy and converting antimatter into energy.

A type II civilization is capable of harnessing the power of their home star. The assumptions here are that it’s a main sequence star, yet the technology required to take over a star can be adapted to practically any sized star without much more effort than it already takes for a main sequence star. Of course, the difficulty of doing it for a red hypergiant or white dwarf / neutron star will be much, much more different than a simple solar-radii-range star. A very popular method of a civilization becoming type II is through the Dyson sphere / Dyson swarm. This involves strategically placing a cover of solar panels away from the sun, collecting a large fraction of its continuous output. A swarm however, is much easier to construct than a full blanket, but it also captures much less energy.

A type III civilization is capable of outputting the energy of an entire galaxy. The vast majority of type III civilizations don’t actually take up all of the planets in a galaxy or even >1% fraction, but instead construct technology capable of outputting a galaxy-worth much more efficiently. For example, a Dyson sphere equivalent orbiting around a quasar, or using a series of controlled collisions of neutron stars to capture the energy, with each one usually equivalent to the lifetime output of a 100 million stars.

95% of all civilizations within the 4.00 - 4.99 range leave their home Universe, with the remaining 5% being broken down into 98% type III civilizations and the remaining 2% of that being practically all very high type-II civilizations being somehow way ahead of their time. Out of the millions that left their Universe that also can be accurately ranked under the Kardashev scale, there have only been 7 which were ≤ 2.50 types, with the lowest being the Tooreq civilization which left their Universe with basic FTL technology, 12 connected solar systems and type 2.31 status.

Fermi paradox
All of this talk about large scale civilizations, but where actually are they? 4,878 discovered exoplanets, 3,604 planetary systems, at least 100 billion galaxies and yet nothing has indicated signs of life to us throughout the history of astronomy. Humans asked themselves this question long ago, failing to realize that maybe aliens wouldn’t want to talk to us if one of the first things they heard coming from radio waves was Hitler? Well, the first civilization that was capable of picking up the radio waves was too far away to even recognize them from background noise, but they definitely sensed patterns so in 2031 they finally decided to send something back, and by 2038 it had reached Earth, making the first contact between Humans and the Doaleks.

Aside from that, the vast majority of planets Humans simply didn’t pick up on, due to the transits of planets not aligning exactly with Earth. But Humans had inadvertently already observed planets with life, it was that those planets had civilizations whose goals weren’t aligned with conquering galaxies, but rather being intertwined with nature, similar to most indigenous populations on Earth.

Extended Kardashev scale
Since the original Kardashev scale was concerned with extraterrestrial, Universal civilizations, it began from I and ended at III, as type 0 civilizations probably wouldn’t have enough power to produce radio signals that would be interpretable across light-years, or the technology to capture them, and with there being seemingly no type III civilizations, there are most certainly no type IV-s. With its increased popularity however, the scale has been generalized and extended to cover any real number. Negative numbers work too, as the energy output simply goes into fractions.

Type 0

 * Electricity
 * Combustion
 * Aerial flight
 * Nuclear fusion
 * Advanced medicine
 * 3D printing
 * Agriculture
 * Biotechnology
 * Automation
 * Computers

Type I

 * Antimatter-matter fusion
 * Aritificial super intelligence
 * Degrowth
 * Ionic fission
 * Genetic engineering
 * Advanced virtual reality
 * Gravity field manipulation
 * UFT / Theory of Everything
 * Advanced geoengineering
 * Superstructures

Type II

 * Megastructures
 * Dyson sphere / swarm
 * Large-scale nanotechnology
 * Mass terraforming
 * Astrobiology used in practice
 * Noosphere
 * Space elevator
 * Simple Matrioshka brain
 * Primitive astroengineering
 * Solar travel

Type III

 * Xenoengineering
 * Black hole manipulation
 * Gamma-ray capturing
 * Common FTL travel
 * Advanced astroengineering
 * Perfecting megastructures
 * Large scale space-time manipulation
 * Basic galactic exploration
 * Common astronautics
 * Extragalactic contact

Type IV

 * Galactic travel
 * Simple post-Universal technology
 * Advanced xenopsychology
 * Amateur time / dimensional manipulation
 * Teleportation
 * Common manipulation of quasars and gamma-ray bursts
 * Wormhole manipulation
 * Galactic Topopoli
 * Abiogenesis manipulation
 * G-Matrioshka brain

Type V

 * Multiversal exploration
 * Simple Universal engineering
 * Fundamental particle manipulation
 * Extra-Universal civilizational contact and exchange
 * Extra-Universal technology
 * Large scale bosonic field manipulation
 * Metaverse observation
 * Multiversal megastructures
 * Universe travel
 * Mass scale quantum technology

Type V, or Multiversally acquainted civilizations, will first enter their Omniversal stage, as they learn about the total beginnings of Omniversal science. Most of this science is concerned with things that actually apply to them, before they make their way out of the Multiverse and move on further in knowledge and technology.

Variations on the Kardashev scale

 * Robert Zubrin: Mastery - Zubrin’s scale removes the precise definition of what requires a civilization to qualify for each type, and rather focuses on the effects of such a civilization. Therefore, as a civilization would move higher up the scale, they would simply be mastering their planet, solar system, galaxy, etc., instead of falling under precise definitions.
 * Robert Zubrin: Colonization - Another one of Zubrin’s adaptations, this one focuses on colonization. It works in the same way as the Kardashev scale of Zubrin’s previously mentioned scale, but a civilization would have to colonize other places to rank higher.
 * Carl Sagan: Information - Carl Sagan, in October of 2000, suggested in one of his books a variation on the scale, using informational mastery, rather than energy usage alone. Types are listed strictly from A to Z instead of using Roman numerals, and the range goes from 10^6 bits, to 10^31 bits. Listing where exactly Earth would be on this range requires more precision than simply using letters though, and as such, Humans would be a 0.73 J civilization.
 * John Barrow: Macrodimensionality - This scale by John Barrow works over manipulation, rather than output, and works downwards, rather than upwards. Labeled Type I-minus to Type Omega-minus, with civilizations at level I-minus being able to manipulate themselves, buildings, tools, etc., afterwards on II-minus being capable of genetic modifications, transplants, bioengineering, then with III-minus and IV-minus ranging over molecules and atoms, nuclei respectively, V-minus with manipulating elementary particles, until one reaches Omega-minus, when one can manipulate space and time.