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When Will Humanity Become a Type I Civilization?

Can humanity become a Type I civilization without causing our own Great Filter?


There are several ways we can measure the progress of human civilization. Population growth, the rise and fall of empires, our technological ability to reach for the stars. But one simple measure is to calculate the amount of energy humans use at any given time. As humanity has spread and advanced, our ability to harness energy is one of our most useful skills. If one assumes civilizations on other planets might possess similar skills, the energy consumption of a species is a good rough measure of its technological prowess. This is the idea behind the Kardashev Scale.

Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev proposed the scale in 1964. He categorized civilizations into three types: planetary, stellar, and galactic. A Type I species is able to harness energy on a scale equal to the amount stellar energy that reaches its home planet. Type II species can harness energy on the scale of its home star, and Type III can harness the energy of its home galaxy. The idea was further popularized by Carl Sagan, who suggested a continuous scale of measurement rather than simply three types.

So what type of civilization are we? Although humans use a tremendous amount of energy, it turns out we don’t even qualify as Type I. About 1016 Watts of solar energy reaches Earth on average, and humanity currently uses about 1013 Watts. On Sagan sliding scale, that puts us currently at about 0.73. Not bad for a bunch of evolved primates, but it raises an interesting question. Could we even reach Type I? After all, we can’t capture all the sunlight that reaches Earth and still have a habitable planet.

Somnium Space is an immersive virtual world where players can go kayaking and visit NFT museums. Here’s an inside look at how the world almost had me sold on the metaverse vision — if only it hadn’t been plagued with tech issues

Meetups occur every day at 10 p.m. Central European Time. Users gather in Somnium Space’s city center, known as City Plaza, which is next to Somnium’s virtual headquarters. Events there include open-mic nights, concerts, and developer meetups.

Making money in Somnium Space

Somnium Space isn’t all socialization. Many players are making money by creating and selling NFT avatars.

New double neutron star millisecond pulsar discovered

An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a rare double neutron star millisecond pulsar. The newfound binary pulsar, designated PSR J1325−6253, consists of two neutron stars orbiting one another every 1.8 days. The finding is detailed in a paper published April 14 on arXiv.org.

The most rapidly rotating pulsars, those with rotation periods below 30 milliseconds, are known as (MSPs). It is assumed that they are formed in when the initially more massive component turns into a neutron star that is then spun-up due to accretion of matter from the secondary star.

Some pulsars consist of two (dubbed double neutron star systems—DNS). They are one of the most important classes of objects used to test and understand numerous astrophysical and fundamental physics phenomena, including in the strong-field regime.

China Plans System to Take Out Asteroids Hurtling Toward Earth

China plans to develop a system for monitoring asteroids that pose a threat to earth, highlighting the nation’s growing ambitions for its space program.

The country will also explore ways for taking out asteroids that endanger the planet, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, said in a TV interview, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Comet C/2021 O3 might be visible in binoculars

A comet discovered last July is fast approaching our part of the solar system and might reach binocular visibility (at least) by May 2022. It’s designated C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS). The comet will be emerging into our western evening sky at least by early May. The comet is currently passing close to the sun, and it might not survive that passage … but if it does, get ready! Charts below.

Comet PanSTARRS will come close to the sun, closer than the planet Mercury. Its closest point, called its perihelion, will come on April 21, 2022. It’ll sweep 0.29 astronomical units (AU) from our star (1 AU = 1 average Earth-sun unit of distance). So – given that Mercury’s sunny side reaches temperatures of around 750 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit (up to about 430 degrees Celsius) – you can see that Comet C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) will really feel the sun’s heat.

That’s why Comet C/2021 O3 might disintegrate, as some comets do, when nearest our star.