Throughout the years, astrophysicists as well as Sci-Fi writers have used several classifications for futuristic civilizations. The Russian Astronomer Nikolai Kardashev classified futuristic civilizations based on their energy consumption.
I’m going to talk about a modified version of the Kardashev classification speculating both about the energy consumption and technological abilities of futuristic civilizations.
⏩Type I: 🚹
A Type I civilization will have the ability to use all the energy available on their home planet. This would include all the radiation energy received from the parent star and energy from planetary phenomena like Volcanic Activity, Jet Stream, Ocean currents etc.
A Type I civilization would have the technology and resources to control natural phenomena like Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis etc.
They’ll have built spacecraft capable of travelling at a fraction of the speed of light making interplanetary travel easier. Establishing enclosed colonies in nearby planets will be economically feasible. Apart from providing more resources, this will also ensure the survival of their species even after a planetary cataclysm.
Medical technology in this era will be able to cure or control most of the known diseases and prolong life span to several hundred years. Genetic Engineering will help these people to evolve into a more intelligent, strong and adaptive species.
It has been predicted that our civilization may progress into a Type I in less than 1000 years. (Provided we don’t blow ourselves up before that).
⏩Type II: 🚹🚹
Theoretically a Type I civilization could transition into a Type II in less than 10000 years.
A Type II civilization will be able to harness the power of an entire star. They’ll probably use devices similar to the Dyson Sphere to harvest energy from stars. Heck they may actually create ring worlds that will double as dyson cylinders.
They’d have learnt how to manipulate gravity and this along with other planet altering technology (terraformation) would enable them to establish permanent colonies on nearby planets.
They’ll have spacecraft capable of travelling close to the speed of light (using antimatter propulsion) and will soon discover and colonize habitable planets in the galaxy, sometimes at a great cost to the native species.
Due their vast size, communication at the speed of light will no longer be a viable option. A type II civilization would probably rely on Quantum Entanglement for communication allowing them instantaneous communication over any distance.
Medical technology and Genetic Engineering would enable people to live for thousands of years. All diseases will be curable in this era. Genetic defects will be almost non-existent.
⏩Type III:🚹🚹🚹
If a type II civilization lasts long enough it would eventually transition into a type 3 in less than 100000 years
A type III civilization will have the means and need to harvest thousands or even millions of stars. At this stage a civilization will already have thousands of colonies in every corner of the Galaxy.
They’d have mastered Terra-Formation and will be able to transform any planet into a habitable one.
They would have achieved faster than light travel (either by using an Alcubierre Drive or by teleporting using naturally occurring Einstein-Rosen bridges aka wormholes). This would enable them to travel to Galaxies outside their own and establish colonies there thus ensuring the survival of their species even after unbeatable Galactic Cataclysms.
Type III people would have a life span of hundreds of thousands of years. New understanding of consciousness and sentience would enable the minds of terminally sick patients to be transferred to healthy clones or to advanced machines.
Eventually a type III civilization will learn to harness energy from Supernovas and black holes giving them enough resources to transform into a type IV civilization.
⏩Type IV: 🚹🚹🚹🚹
Speculatively it may take up to a million years for a type III civilization to transition into a type IV.
A type IV civilization will use entire galaxies to power its needs. Additionally a type IV civilization would have learnt to harness the power of Dark Energy and Dark Matter which would give them almost limitless potential.
A juvenile type IV could theoretically create stars, planets and even Galaxies at will. They’ll have the ability to teleport planets, Solar Systems and eventually entire Galaxies. They will truly be the masters of the universe but they won’t stop there.
Time travel will be possible in this era and many would travel to live in alternate timelines of their choice.
An Advanced type IV will gain the ability to change the laws of physics and will create universes with entirely different laws of physics. They would establish colonies across multiple universes which will ensure the continuation of their species even after the death of their home universe.
To primitive civilizations, their actions will seem like an act of nature.
Eventually they will learn (either by technological or spiritual means) to separate their consciousness from physical bodies and start living at a higher plane of existence as inter-dimensional beings. This will make them almost immortal.
It will be fair to assume that at this stage the civilization will choose to have very limited interactions with other primitive civilizations. Their motivations and aspirations at this stage cannot be speculated.
⏩Type V: 🚹🚹🚹🚹🚹
This is going to take us into the spiritual domain. A Type V civilization will no longer be a distinct entity. They will become the continuum (Fabric of the existence) itself. They’ll neither have a beginning or an end as we know it.
Since the concepts of space, time, cause and effect will not apply to a type V it may be futile to speculate about a transition into a Type V. In the most likely scenario there may be no transition at all, just a realization. Remember this-If type V civilizations are the continuum itself then everything that exists (including us) is already a Type V.
It could happen on a decade or a century. Technology doesn't actually increase steadily. It makes sudden leaps when great discoveries are made. Then it slows down as the scientists that remain aren't really original thinkers and those technologies are refined.
It only takes a few great ideas to make a massive leap in general level of technology.
To be a type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale we need to consume as much energy as the Earth receives from the sun. According to google that amount is 1.74 x 10^17 watts. According to wikipedia humans used 155 505 terawatt hours of primary energy (this includes both consumed energy and energy wasted in processing). If we divide that number by the number of hours in a year 155 505/(365 * 24) we get that humans use 17.75 terawatts of energy. So the total percentage we use of the required energy to be type 1 is
(17.75 x 10^12)/(1.74 x 10^17) x 100% = 0.0102 %
So not really very close.
I'm pretty sure this is not attainable with any exist technology, so this really can't be predicted in the foreseeable future. But according the wikipedia article on the subject we would need to fuse 280 kg of hydrogen a second in fusion reactors to output that kind of energy.
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