Scientific Imagination: How can humans achieve level one civilization, and what will it look like then?

There are many theories or conjectures about cosmic civilizations. Some people classify cosmic civilizations into three levels, some into five levels, and some into seven levels. The theory of cosmic civilization classification established by former Soviet scientist Kardashev in the 1960s is more widely accepted in the scientific community.

The cosmic civilization mentioned here is not the narrow concept of spiritual civilization and material civilization of some people, but the level of development of the comprehensive civilization of intelligent bodies in the universe, a civilization system mainly measured by the level of development of science and technology.

Kardashev's Universe Level 3 Civilization Criteria

Kardashev believed that no matter what kind of civilization there is in the universe, it must use energy. The more energy it consumes, mainly for external broadcasting, or in other words, the more energy it uses in interstellar communication, the higher the level of civilization. He divided civilization into three levels, namely, the first-level mother star civilization, the second-level star civilization, and the third-level galaxy civilization.

The so-called mother star civilization can also be called planetary civilization, that is, a civilized intelligent body (which can also be understood as humans or aliens, the same below) that has the ability to fully control and utilize the energy of the home planet and can prevent and respond to all disasters from the home planet. This level of civilization is a first-level civilization, and the energy controlled and utilized is equal to the total energy radiated from the parent star to the planet.

Stellar civilization is a civilization with the ability to fully control and utilize all the energy of the star at this level, and can prevent and respond to all disasters from the star system. This level of civilization is a second-level civilization, and the energy controlled and utilized reaches the total energy radiated by the star at this level.

Galaxy civilization is a civilization with the ability to fully control and utilize all the energy of the galaxy, and can prevent and respond to all disasters from the galaxy. This level of civilization is a third-level civilization, and the energy controlled and used reaches the total energy radiated by the entire galaxy. It can be said to be a god-level civilization that is unimaginable to humans today.

For humans existing on Earth in the solar system, the energy controlled and used by a first-level civilization is the portion of solar radiation energy received by the Earth, which is about one two billionth of the total solar radiation energy, or about 1.8*10^17 J/s (joules/second, or watts); to reach a second-level civilization, the energy used and controlled must reach the total solar radiation energy, or about 4*10^26 J/s; to reach a third-level civilization, the energy controlled and used must reach the total radiation energy of the Milky Way, or about 4*10^37 J/s.

The current level of civilization that humans have reached and the problems that exist

According to the data, the total energy consumption in the world in 2022 is about 5.41 billion tons of standard coal. Each ton of standard coal can generate 292,700,000,000 J of heat. The total annual energy consumption is about 158,350,700,000,000,000,000 J, which is converted into J/s as 5*10^13 J/s. This is still 3,600 times away from the energy control usage of the first-level civilization.

The use of these energies is not focused on interstellar communications, but more on human consumption. Therefore, after comprehensive evaluation, scientists believe that human civilization is still at level 0.73, and it will take at least two hundred years to reach level one civilization.

The energy required for Level 2 civilization is 2.2 billion times that of Level 1 civilization, so humans need to strive for 5,000 years. Once Level 2 civilization is achieved, humans will no longer be afraid of any disasters from the solar system, and the probability of survival and continuation will be greatly increased.

This estimate is based on the fact that science has developed to this day and has entered the fast lane of technological advancement. In the future, energy usage will show an exponential growth trend, and it is possible to reach level one civilization during this time period.

At present, human technological civilization is still in its infancy, and humanity is facing many crises and problems, including but not limited to threats such as plague, greenhouse effect, climate, geological disasters, asteroid impacts, etc.; there are also wars and destruction caused by humanity itself: such as nuclear war, environmental destruction, etc. These problems may delay the process of human civilization upgrading and may even lead to the destruction of the ecology and human civilization.

Therefore, solving the problems of human beings is a very important key factor. First of all, we must continuously upgrade our intellectual concepts in social development and gradually change from a fighting mode to a win-win cooperation mode. This change is not verbal, but a consensus of human beings from the bottom of our hearts. Only in this way can we form a strong synergy and promote the accelerated development of world science and technology.

In addition, the upgrade of human civilization also requires the upgrade of human beings

This topic may sound a bit mysterious, but many top scientific research institutions around the world are already working on this, and Spacetime Communications is very optimistic about this prospect. I think this is the only way for humans to move towards advanced civilization and fly into deep space. The upgrade of human civilization must be accompanied by the upgrade of human beings.

Human beings have come from ancient times, with an average lifespan that has increased from a dozen years in the ape age to 20 to 30 years in the agricultural society, to 40 to 50 years in modern times, and to 70 to 80 years in modern times. This is achieved by relying on scientific and technological progress, mainly in terms of food, medical care, changes in working methods and other aspects.

However, human lifespan is limited by genes. As physical beings, humans will eventually age due to the limitations of cell metabolism. No matter what medical care and health repairs are taken in old age, the damaged body will still die. Scientific predictions show that the longest human lifespan is only between 120 and 150 years.

This age seems to be very long. Some people think that living this long is already impatient and unnecessary. But if human beings want to continue, they can't always stay on Earth. When the Earth is no longer habitable, our descendants must seek interstellar migration to continue. The time required for interstellar travel is unimaginable, hundreds or thousands of years at a time. Human lifespan is not enough to withstand such a long journey.

Moreover, since humans exist in physical form, they need to consume a large amount of complex resources, such as air, water, food, vegetables, nutrients, etc. These energy substances require complex biochemical reactions in the human body before they can be utilized.

If humans survived in a conscious way instead of a physical body, their lifespan would be much longer and they would not need to consume a lot of complex resources. Stellar energy would become the most ideal energy source and would be available everywhere in space. At the same time, since humans would not have a physical body to occupy space, starships would be lighter and would not need to be built so large.

Therefore, only by breaking away from the shackles of the flesh can humans go into deep space. Many scientific research institutions are now studying consciousness uploading, brain-computer interfaces, virtual worlds, etc., in order to change the way humans will survive in the future, to survive in a conscious way that is independent of the flesh, and to combine human consciousness with clones or artificial intelligence, so as to obtain a lifespan that is much longer than that of the flesh.

I call this the upgrading of human beings. I have already elaborated on this in previous articles, so I will not elaborate on it here. I think that all high-level civilizations in the universe must pass this level, otherwise they cannot be upgraded to a high-level civilization.

What would it be like when humans reach level one civilization?

It is still unpredictable whether humans can achieve the upgrade mentioned above. But in 200 years, at least there should be significant progress. Perhaps some people have uploaded their consciousness and achieved their continued survival and longevity by combining with machines. The progress of genetic engineering will allow people who survive in the traditional physical body to have an average life expectancy of between 120 and 150 years.

Human beings have stopped fighting and killing each other, and are now more inclusive and win-win. With the consensus of all mankind, environmental protection has been fundamentally improved, and the greenhouse effect has been greatly alleviated. Extreme climate disasters, volcanoes, earthquakes and other geological disasters can no longer threaten humans. Efficient science and technology and organizational management systems have been able to cope with various disasters from the earth itself.

Artificial intelligence has become the main labor force for social production and services. Human labor is mainly concentrated in high-end design and management, and more time is spent enjoying the comfortable or exciting life brought by machines. The virtual world has become people’s favorite lifestyle and can almost solve all of people’s daily needs, including but not limited to travel, adventure, health care, medical care, making friends, love, sex life, etc. Many high-end jobs are also completed through the virtual world.

Aerospace is no longer the exclusive domain of astronauts or professionals. Ordinary people have the opportunity to travel to the near-Earth and interstellar worlds. The first low-Earth orbit space city has been built, becoming the nearest immigration and tourist destination for mankind. The lunar base has long been built and is large in scale. It is not only a springboard for mankind's long-distance voyages, but also the most popular and nearest extraterrestrial tourist destination.

Minerals such as helium-3 on the moon have begun to be mined on a large scale, and solar energy has become the main source of energy for human activities on the moon; a Martian city with a population of 1 million has been built and put into use. Reproductive isolation and environmental conditions will begin to differentiate humans on Earth, and a unique Martian race different from humans on Earth will begin to form, but they are still relatives of humans on Earth.

The first starship has already left the solar system and may have returned from Proxima Centauri. This star, which is closest to us, is now found to have at least three planets. After investigation, if it is a habitable place, the first interstellar immigration plan will be launched. As a result, the eggs of mankind have been divided into three or four baskets, and the probability of surviving and reproducing in interstellar disasters has greatly increased.

The advent of the interstellar space age has completely changed the social management structure of mankind. The concept of the country will gradually fade, the leadership and coordination capabilities of the United Nations or re-established international organizations will continue to strengthen, and any major interstellar action will mobilize global resources to achieve it.

The concept of family will also fade or even disintegrate. The work of bearing children has been factory-based, and the genes of offspring will be strengthened. People will choose to adopt or not have children according to their own needs, and they will be completely free to fall in love or live together. Women will no longer need to be pregnant and will have more time to work and enjoy themselves.

These human activities require huge amounts of energy. Therefore, in terms of energy utilization, the era of using fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas as the main energy source has ended, and controlled nuclear fusion has become the main energy source required for development; in addition, the Dyson Sphere Project has begun to be implemented, gradually increasing the use of solar energy, and humans are accumulating energy to upgrade to a second-level civilization.

Is this kind of life in the first level civilization something you can understand and imagine? Or do you think you have more better ideas and a different world? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss and imagine together.

This is an original article from Space-Time Communication. Please respect the author’s copyright. Thank you for your understanding and support.