Kardashev’s classification of civilizations depending on their level of energy use received popular attention after Michio Kaku introduced his ideas to the general public in his book “Hyperspace”, first published in 1994.
Musing on Kardashev’s ideas is fun but, as Michio notes, “any conjecture about such advanced civilizations is a matter of sheer speculation”. Of more relevance to our current situation, are Michio’s thoughts on the universal problem facing Type 0 civilizations: the discovery of element 92.
From “Hyperspace” (OUP 1994):
The development of the internal combustion engine (for example, a car engine) requires the development of a complex chemical and industrial base, which can be accomplished by only a cohesive social unit numbering in the millions (for example, the nation-state).On the same page, Michio quotes Heinz Pagel’s words:
The discovery of element 92 upsets this balance between the slow steady rise of the cohesive social unit and its technological development. The releasing of nuclear energy dwarfs chemical explosives by a factor of a million, but the same nation-state that can harness the internal combustion engine can also refine element 92.
Thus a severe mismatch occurs especially when the development of this hypothetical civilization is still locked in the form of hostile nation-states. The technology for mayhem and destruction abruptly outpaces the slow development of social relations with the discovery of element 92.
It is natural, to conclude, therefore, that Type 0 civilizations arose on numerous occasions within the last 5- to 10-billion-year history of our galaxy, but that they all eventually discovered element 92. […] Regrettably, if we live long enough to reach nearby stars in our sector of the galaxy, we may see the ashes of numerous, dead civilizations that settled national passions, personal jealousies, and racial hatred with nuclear bombs.
The challenge to our civilization which has come from our knowledge of the cosmic energies that fuel the stars, the movement of light and electrons through matter, the intricate molecular order which is the biological basis of life, must be met by the creation of a moral and political order which will accommodate these forces, or we shall be destroyed. It will try our deepest resources of reason and compassion.It’s fun to muse “beyond the future” but the physics of extraterrestrial civilizations apply to us also. As the 21st century unfolds, it is not idle speculation to wonder whether our own civilization will survive to attempt the stars or perish in the fire.
