Homo Techno #4

How we reach type 1 civilization & beyond

[TL;DR We must all work together to progress our civilization]

Protopia

Definition: a world that is better today than yesterday

Humanism

Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset

Why financial security matters & directly contributes to happiness & fulfillment

Realistic Optimism

Graph of an upward trajectory with ups & downs

I believe humanity is on a long term upward trajectory, but it does not mean we won’t have periods of negative progress. I think this principle could apply to personal lives, politics, and much more! To progress as a society we must all come together and work as one collective.

Our whole is greater than the sum of our parts.

Collaboration exponentially multiplies our rate of accumulated knowledge and means of production. The shared vision of mastering our planet and venturing for the stars must be manifested from our imaginations into reality.

Longtermism

Type 1 Civilization

Kardashev scale: Type 1 to 3

To reach a type 1 civilization there are 2 fundamental aspects we must master: energy & climate. This requires a multitude of technological advancements and societal shifts.

Energy

1. 100% renewable & electric economy

   1. Sustainable & efficient mobility, industry & more

   

   

   Electric mobility: cars, planes, boats

   

2. Fusion reactors

   1. Unlimited energy = unlimited matter & matter manipulation

Nuclear Anxiety, SMRs & Tokamaks

Climate

1. Carbon management

   1. Control atmospheric carbon levels & carbon stores

2. Climate engineering

   1. Prevent droughts, storms & more

3. Natural disaster prevention & mitigation

   1. Control tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires & more

Sustainable Carbon Practices, Carbon Sequestration & Climate Engineering

Type 2 Civilization

First to get off our planet we need a cost effective way to launch rockets. The solution is rapidly reusable rockets. We aren’t quite at the rapidly reusable part yet, but SpaceX Starship and Starbase catch tower may make this possible.

NASA Artemis & SpaceX 2022

Once we make it into space we will face numerous challenges as our bodies are not adapted to survive in micro-gravity/space.

Moreover, life support systems will be crucial in maintaining any long term prospects. This could include things like:

1. Energy generation

2. Oxygen/CO2/water recycling

3. Farming in micro-gravity

4. Sanitation/waste management/recycling in micro-gravity

5. Communications technology

6. Resistance/cardiovascular training tools
   (fight musculoskeletal & heart atrophy)

7. Simulated gravity (rotating space stations)

8. Genetic editing to combat all these ailments

To make the jump from space stations to colonizing other celestial bodies in our solar system, we must be prepared for the harsh environments we encounter.

Space

1. Ionizing radiation from sun (UV, X-rays, Gamma rays)

   1. Usually deflected by Earth’s magnetic field

2. Micrometeorites (kinetically catastrophic due to sheer velocity)

   1. Usually disintegrate due to friction from Earth’s atmosphere

Moon

0.17x gravity of Earth

1. Specialized equipment & work apparel (moon dust is abrasive)

2. Water mining (used to create fuel & support life systems)

3. Subterranean complexes for long term habitation
   (necessary to shield from sun’s ionizing radiation)

4. In-situ resource utilization
   (using what’s available to construct)

5. Automated construction (reduce radiation exposure for workers)

Mars

0.38x gravity of Earth

1. All the same problems as the Moon

2. Severe dust storms

3. Long distance from Earth (in case help is needed)

   1. 128 - 333 days travel time depending on speed of craft & solar alignment

I will expand upon extraterrestrial colonization in a future post. The problems we will face are not yet fully known and we may not have the technology yet to solve them. This will depend on innovation in many areas including: psychology, medicine, agriculture, construction, and more.

Terraforming

Mars terraforming concept image

Formation of Our Atmosphere

Earth’s Magnetic Field

Earth’s hot core, through convection of molten rock, generates a magnetic field around the planet. This happens to shield our planet’s atmosphere from harsh solar winds that can blow it away and destroy it.

Atmospheric Processor (From Alien Film Franchise)

Mega-Structures

Asteroid Mining

Finding the resources to construct mega-structures, given we can meet the necessary energy demands.

De Beers, Synthetic Precious Gemstones, Precious Metals & Asteroid Mining

Ringworlds

A space station the size of a planet that spins to create gravity through centrifugal force. I am not sure how an atmosphere could be sustained in such a structure, but this is a far-fetched sci-fi imagination.

Dyson Spheres

To fully harness the energy of the sun we would build a series of rings or satellites or maybe even panels that can absorb all of the radiation from the sun.

Type 3 & Beyond

1 light year = 63241.1 AU (Astronomical Units)

100,000 light years = 6,324,110,000 AU

Size of our solar system: ~100 AU

1 AU = 149,598,000 kilometers

This is beyond the current scope of human imagination. The size of a galaxy is incomprehensibly gargantuan. To give you a sense of scale, Alpha Centauri is the closest star to our sun at 4.2465 light years away (268,553.235 AU or 40,174,990,000,000 km). To even consider thinking at this scale we would have to invent a way to travel faster than the speed of light. Even if we were able to travel at the speed of light (which we are definitely not), it would take 4.2 years to reach our next closest star. Some postulate that wormholes or “folding space” could enable this, but we genuinely have no idea if this would actually be possible.