User:Sparkygravity/Kardashev Scale

Work and sources I intend to do for Kardashev scale

Goals

In my opinion the Kardashev scale has 4 primary interests:

1. A benchmark used by Seti scientists in there search for extraterrestrials
2. A introspective way at looking at our own civilization, not a main focus by scientists due to earth-centered POV.
3. A catch-all vocabulary term for a scale used by scientists, in classifying advanced civilizations. This has important implications when speculating on sociological structures of advanced civilizations. But also, it is a necessary analysis when talking what about clues might be left behind or generated by alien species; which then might lead the the discovery of extraterrestrials.
4. Because it is can be used for the speculation of advanced civilizations it is a magnet for those interested in science fiction. Not many science fiction writers actually talk about the scale or the power generated by fiction species in power(WATTS) terms, but science fiction enthusiasts are interested in the Kardashev Scale.

My primary goals are in advancing the content area of number 2 and diminishing the fictional content. After all, it is a scientific not a fictional topic. My secondary goals are to find and add published content on the extension of the scale. The feedback I have gotten is pretty much divided between goals 1 or 3. And I don't want to create a editing war!

So please read the article and the discussion page and tell me what you think!!

• 1)Is the article presently fine the way it is?
• 2)After you read it, did you get the impression that it was a science article or a science fiction article?
• 3)Was it too long, too short, easy to understand?
• 4)Was the article interesting, was it boring, did it feel jumbled or was it concise?
• 5)What do you think might be needed to be added to this article, what do you think needs to be edited out?

problems that I feel need to be addressed

1. A balance needs to be found between being understandable and being neutral: if it's too earth-centered then the article is POV, if it doesn't have any earth-based comparisons the article will becomes hard for a laymen audience to understand.
2. Too many articles that link directly to Dr. Michio Kaku, great guy and all, smart as they come, but the article needs diversity or comes under fire by WP:Undue... opinions of scale have to be held by the majority of scientists, not just one.
3. Article is visually unappealing and boring, makes it hard for a non-science user to understand. Plus if the article is ever going to be nominated for a Good article, it'll need pictures.
4. The ever continuing problem of Sci-Fi examples which constitutes WP:List, the focus on the science fiction aspect, misleads people to thinking that the Kardashev Scale is more science fiction, than a scientific hypothesis about other civilizations.

Stuff that could go into the article right now

Kardashev scale#current_status_of_human_civilization

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071114163448.htm - gives me the number of coal plants world wide 50,000. So, if I can link 50,000 times some power plant say fusion that generates more power, I can show by implication that human civilization could become a Type I, simply by replacing or supplementing coal power plants with fusion, or some other more efficient power source.
• http://www.universetoday.com/2004/04/26/how-advanced-can-a-civilization-become/ - interview with Dr. Michio Kaku gives figures that humans will reach type I within 200 years, Type II in 3,200 years, and Type III in 5,800 assuming a modest 1% power growth (estimates done by Freeman Dyson - NEED TO FIND)
• http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1683 - same interview with Michio Kaku

Kardashev scale#Energy_development

Add Nuclear Energy to section, Need to go into fission and fusion, wish to commend 24.182.14.17 with respect for his attempted contribution, it's from him that I got the idea

Things in nuclear that have to be done, a litte about ITER, about DEMO can't go into it too much or else it'll skew article towards earth-centered POV

links:

• http://www.iter.org/a/index_faq.htm - talks about the current power effienceny of ITER and current fusion power plants
• http://www.iter.org/pdfs/open_day_11.pdf - talks about ITER's power rating ~500MW, consumption rate ~487MW, construction start 2008, planned finish 2016
• http://www.iter.org/a/n1/downloads/construction_schedule.pdf - ITER construction schedule
• http://www.iter.org/FAQ/EE2.htm - talks about the power generation of ITER at 500MW, duration 400seconds, consumption rate during longer burn 200MW, and power generation if thermal energy can be converted to electric energy at a 33% effciency ~200MW (not useful for commercial application)
• http://www.iter.org/FAQ/EE3.htm - the plant following ITER will be 6 times bigger in size and produce 1300 to 1500MW, which 1000MW will be commercially for sale. (This will be a demonstration of commercial viability.) not called DEMO, but implied

• http://www.pppl.gov/polImage.cfm?doc_Id=48&size_code=Doc - talks about DEMO, DEMO will generate 2500MW of power, 1000MW (efficiency of 40%) will be for sale commerically. ITER has a gain of 10 produced/consumed... Fusion power gets more efficent the larger the plant, so DEMO will have a gain of 25 of produced/consumed.

Antimatter while a viable energy source is a bit hard to nail down when a civilization would have access to it, in large quantities.

Links relating to Antimatter

• http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42928/1/10751_2006_Article_BF02316703.pdf - Important conclusion the universe may be charged having large areas of antimatter. There may be as much antimatter in the universe as matter.
• http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0106030v1 - same guy same conclusion

Kardashev scale#civilization_implications ::*http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/InterstellarProbesJBIS1980.htm - the first mention of Malthusian pressures with respect to advanced civilizations was first proposed by Freeman Dyson in Freeman Dyson, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation," Science, 131, 1667-1668 (1959). which I handily have another reprint of

• http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SETI1.HTM - reprinting of Freeman Dyson, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation," Science, 131, 1667-1668 (1960)Done

Kardashev_scale#Extensions_to_the_original_scale

• http://seti.sentry.net/archive/public/2004/Dec/0002.html - Talks about a the Kardashev scale from a sociological aspect. Not reliable unless additional links can be found.

sections that would need work before going into article

Technology available by type

• http://www.mkaku.org/articles/physics_of_inter.php - talks about the propulsion systems by type Type 0 Chemical rockets, Ionic engines, Fission power, EM propulsion (rail guns); Type I Ram-jet fusion engines, Photonic drive; Type II Antimatter drive, Von Neumann nano probes; Type III Planck energy propulsion
• http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/InterstellarProbesJBIS1980.htm - wow, what a great article! It's primary purpose was to propose a new way for SETI to search for extraterrestrials based on physical limits of transmission efficiency for light. So basically he talks about the Interstellar communication capabilities of a Type III civilization. And he did this back in 1980, I can only imagine what's been done since then. Furthermore he talks about power requirement comparisons for Interstellar warfare. Hell even's kind enough to mention the Starship Enterprise and I quote "For instance, a warship weighing 190,000 metric tons (the same as the fictional Starship Enterprise) would consume only 2 x 10²⁷ joules on a one-way 100-light-year 1-g trip." He also does me a favor by name dropping "Malthusian" which will allow me to give the citation needed for Kardashev_scale#Civilization_implications and if that wasn't enough he gives a tantalizing look at three references that could be used to flesh out the technology available to Type II and Type III civilizations. Which are:

Michael A. G. Michaud, "Spaceflight, Colonization, and Independence," JBIS, 30, 83-95, 203-212 323-331 (1977).

Gerard K. O'Neill, "The Colonization of Space," Physics Today, 27, 32-40 (September 1974).

Gerard K. O'Neill, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1977.

T. A. Heppenheimer, Colonies in Space, Warner Books, Inc., New York, (1977).

Richard D. Johnson, Charles Holbrow, Space Settlements: A Design Study, NASA SP-413 (1977).

• http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/75SummerStudy/Table_of_Contents1.html - book by NASA 1975 that considers the power and material costs of building a Toroidal Colony in space.. Nowhere does it dicuss Kardashev or Type I, II, or III, but it does give enough information about the power requirements, in watts that building a ringworld is definitely somewhere in the abilities of a Type I civilization. You'd have to read the document and total up all the power requirements to get the final total, but it is possible.

Richard D. Johnson, Charles Holbrow, Space Settlements: A Design Study, NASA SP-413 (1977).

It'd be great if I had access to these articles... but I don't because I don't have a subscription to the Journal of British Interplanetary Society

Parkinson, Bob “Identifying Key Technologies for Space Exploration and Utilization”JBIS, 54, p. 81-88 (2001)

Parkinson, Bob "The Space Economy of 2050 AD" JBIS, 44, p.111 (1991)

Parkinson, Bobwith S. Walmsley "Advanced Structures for Future Aerospace Vehicles" 1st European Aerospace Conference,Rome, March 1987

• http://biologie.kappa.ro/Literature/Misc_cogsci/teea/exo/SETI.pdf - talks about the interstellar communication technologies of a Type II, and Type III civilization

other resources

• http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/fall2003/holdren.pdf - haven't had time to look at it has alot of good energy projections, also may talk about the dangers of advancing power production on a planet. Need to read it more