Low-Tech Kardashev-2 Civilizations

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Science, Futurism, Sci Fi, Future, Scifi, Technology, Space, Engineering

4.8 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2020

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kardashev-2 Civilizations are hypothetical empires which encompass entire stars, with access to billions of times the energy Earth has, often seen as builders of megastructures like Dyson Spheres. But could civilizations with only the technology we have become Kardashev-2? Watch the Video Version: https://youtu.be/oMiHioZrlOw Visit our sponsor, Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/ Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur SFIA Merchandise available: https://www.signil.com/sfia/ Social Media: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: Episode's Audio-only version: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/low-tech-kardashev-2-civilizations Episode's Narration-only version: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/low-tech-kardashev-2-civilizations -narration-only Credits: Low-Tech Kardashev-2 Civilizations Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur Episode 270: December 24, 2020 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur Editors: Darius Said Jason Burbank Keith Blockus Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier Graphics: Jarred Eagley Jeremy Jozwik https://www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_losdiajana Ken York https://www.facebook.com/YDVisual/ Mihail Yordanov Sergio Botero https://www.artstation.com/sboterod?fref=gc Udo Schroeter Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,
0:05.2	we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.5	To hear it and every episode early and add-free, plus hours of bonus content,
0:15.1	check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.0	This episode is brought to you by Brilliant.
0:22.7	We always think of moving or making stars as the height of technology, only seeing the most
0:27.5	fantastic of science fiction civilizations, but as we'll see today, we already have the technology
0:33.2	to do it.
0:41.8	No. to do it. So today we'll be looking at low-tech Cardishav 2 civilizations, and we have to start
0:46.6	by explaining what a Carnushev 2 civilization is.
0:50.0	As channel regulars know, one of the ways we try to hunt for alien civilizations is by the
0:55.2	Kardshev scale, a simple scale of three basic levels. Level 1, or a Kardashev 1 civilization,
1:02.1	is one that uses or has ready access to all the power and energy of an entire planet,
1:07.5	which in Earth's case is about 200 billion megawatts in terms of solar
1:11.7	energy heating Earth from our Sun.
1:14.1	Though the practical limit of efficiently converting that energy into useful power will
1:18.2	be substantially lower, and some definitions put that K-1 energy as low as 10 billion
1:24.1	megawatts, which was the version Carl Sagan preferred.
1:28.3	Needless to say, that can vary a bit from planet to planet.
1:31.3	Venus is little smaller than Earth but closer to the Sun, so it gets more sunlight, while
1:35.8	Mars is smaller than Earth and further from the Sun and gets much less, but it is generally
1:40.5	good to an order of magnitude or so.
	...

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