What Could Alien Civilizations Look Like?

Ever since man began to raise his head and imagine what the lights he saw in the sky were. that she’s not alone where she lives full of strong feeling. We see this in stories, myths, wall paintings, inscriptions told thousands of years ago.

With the epoch-making developments in science in the last century and the state of our view of the universe, the idea that ‘we cannot be alone in this huge universe’ has become quite strong. Because we started to understand the size of the universe better. When this is the case, ‘what if there are civilizations like us or more developed somewhere?’ We started to ask. To answer this question, we had to define the boundaries of the concept of ‘advanced civilization’. The Kardashev Scale brought exactly this definition. Let’s take a look at what the Kardashev Scale means and its possible scenarios for advanced civilizations.

First of all, what is the Kardashev Scale?

The Kardashev Scale was first developed in 1964 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolay Kardashev, and it could exist in the universe. defining civilizations by the amount of energy they produce and use we can call it a system. The logic on which it is based, in its simplest form, is as follows; As a civilization develops, it will need more energy and more space. As such, it will constantly expand and seek new energy sources for itself.

According to this system, civilizations in the universe are examined in three categories. Type 1 – Planetary Civilizations, Type 2 – Stellar Civilizations and Type 3 – Galactic Civilizations. These three types of civilizations differ in how widely they can control and use the energy resources around them.

A look at possible civilization scenarios in the universe

Type 1 – Planetary Civilizations

Planetary Civilizations, referred to as Type 1 according to the Kardashev Scale, are able to control and use all energy sources on the planet they inhabit. Kardashev described these civilizations in his 1964 article.It is close to the Earth in terms of technology level’ defined as.

According to this definition, As humanity, we are not even a Type 1 civilization. and in order to become one, we need to increase our current energy production amount by almost 100 thousand times. So we still have a long way to go. But still, if we have to roughly imagine it, it has many of the technologies that we dream of in the future for the level of human development; we can imagine a more advanced species than ourselves. Also, of course, this species must not have brought its planet to the point of extinction… It is expected that humanity will reach this level in the next 100-200 years.

Type 1 civilizations or civilizations advancing on that path even though they are not yet Type 1 like us, It can also be found in the Milky Way Galaxy. However, Type 1 civilizations are almost invisible in the universe and their sphere of influence is limited to their own planet. So if they exist somewhere, it seems pretty hard to find them under current conditions.

Type 2 – Stellar Civilizations

It’s time for the Stellar Civilizations, which we will refer to as Type 2. Kardashev’s definition for type 2 civilizations ‘able to use all the energy of his own star’ a civilization. If we think about Type 1 again; once a species has learned to use all the energy resources on its planet, and possibly to the point of exhaustion; next to it and the biggest energy source; the star of his own system may come. Also, as a civilization develops, it will need more energy as well as want to ‘spread’ more. So it is quite possible that a civilization has chosen such a path of development.

In doing so, Type 2 civilizations may choose to build a structure similar to the ‘Dyson sphere’, again proposed by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson in the 60s. This example is also given by Kardashev in his own article, but this is just an example for us to grasp what Type 2 civilizations can do. Type 2, a highly developed civilization, of course to use the energy of its own sun with the highest possible efficiency. He may have found another way.

Alright What is a Dyson sphere? The Dyson sphere is a ‘project’ presented by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson that offers a solution to one of the most likely scenarios in which a civilization may advance through space. Accordingly, if an intelligent civilization is now highly developed, the next step will be to expand to more places and obtain more energy. To do this, he will want to capture all the energy he can get from the central star. It will then develop specialized platforms that orbit the central star and are placed quite frequently. Thus, it will have obtained an endless source of energy and its growth will accelerate.

Here is the Type 2 civilization defined by Kardashev. ‘if it is possible’ should have reached the level to be able to undertake such a project. is being considered. Thus, the Type 2 civilization will have taken control of its entire star system.

So for Type 2, humanity’s future Mars to Uranus, Moon to Sun; that it takes control of all the resources of our own system; Consider that you have completed all the developments required to control this system. That’s what being a Type 2 civilization is all about. If we think about how big budgets and time we are competing with even to send spacecraft to the planets closest to us, we can better understand the level of development of Type 2 civilizations.

Type 3 – Galactic Civilizations

The last type of civilization Kardashev described in his article; become a species that can control all the energy sources of its own galaxy.. It is quite difficult for us to try to perceive this kind of development. Because let alone controlling and exploiting its energy; Even our knowledge of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is quite limited.

But imagine that a civilization has already taken control of its own Solar System with very advanced technologies and the point it has reached in science; has unlimited energy. Traveling between different star systems may have become much simpler for such a civilization. For example, it could have turned into something like traveling between Earth and Pluto. So although it takes a lot of time and resources, it is not impossible.

Thus, this advanced Type 2 civilization is on its way to becoming more advanced. will visit different star systemswill colonize, and eventually, in order to become Type 3, it will have taken control of all the systems in its own galaxy and made it possible to use its energy and resources.

It is difficult to even imagine the technologies possessed by such a civilization. Because, finally, the one who can travel between stars and do it ‘easy’; of a kind that dominates the entire galaxy we are talking about. Maybe they have solved the mysteries of dark matter, and they may be acting by different laws of physics than we know. They may also have found a way to move faster than light.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the intelligent alien civilization ‘types’ described by Kardashev, let’s talk a little bit about the possibility of encountering civilizations of any kind.

If any of the Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 civilizations exist, how come we haven’t met yet?

As we mentioned when talking about type 1 civilizations; As humanity, we are not even a Type 1 civilization yet. Moreover, considering the course of both humanity and the planet, this will not be easy. In other words, although humanity is an ‘intelligent’ species that tries to introduce itself to the universe by sending radio signals hundreds of light years away, when we look back from the universe, we are literally an ‘invisible’ species.

Moreover, in many corners of the universe, ‘civilization’ has not even reached the level we have reached; moving in the same line with us or a He just managed to become type 1 There can be many types. But what we just said for humanity is also valid for them. In other words, with such a level of sophistication, they are kind of invisible.

If we explain this scientifically, as you know, as humanity, we send radio signals to distances that we can’t even imagine, up to 200 light years. But even this amount is not a very large distance if we consider the gigantic dimensions of our galaxy, 100 thousand light-years wide. Also unfortunately signals that we transmit over a distance of 200 light years. Most of them are just a sizzle after traveling a bit. These ‘scratches’ become too meaningless to indicate an intelligent life form. This makes it very difficult for us and possible ‘intelligent’ civilizations like us to be discovered, even within their own galaxy.

How can we explain this situation for type 2? If we were to follow a similar logic here, too; We know that type 2 civilizations must have come to fully dominate their solar system. The majority of the star systems that we can call ‘close’ to our planet consist of young stars and red giants that are not suitable for life.

From those close enough that we can ‘communicate’, that is, send signals and receive signals from them in at least a few years/decades, we didn’t get any signs. So either we are alone in this galaxy or we have not found each other because all existing civilizations are at least as ‘impaired’ as we are. Another option is that even if there is a message sent from a distance, say 200 light-years away, that set off yesterday, it will take 200 years to reach us. In other words, time stands as a big obstacle in front of us.

When we come to Type 3, we are now talking about an overdeveloped species that ‘dominates its galaxy’. Even if there is such a civilization, we know that it must be in a different galaxy. In addition, it is very advanced and who knows what technologies, what kind of laws of physics that we can not even cross the border of understanding for this species, which built its own colony. we can be no different than a swarm of ants…

One more question: Couldn’t there be more advanced civilizations than Type 3?

After Kardashev’s article published in 1964, various ideas came from many scientists to expand this scale. Some scientists say there may be two more types of civilizations, which we might call Type 4 and Type 5. These two types of civilizations may be controlling galaxies and supergalactic clusters. is expressed. However, as you can imagine, we do not have any signs or greetings from distant lands yet for either of these two types.

The most extreme idea on this subject is the existence of a ‘Type Omega’ civilization. Imagine a civilization that controls the entire universe, even universes, uses its energy, develops and continues to grow. What kind of conditions would be required for the development of such a civilization, what kind of biological and physical existence does this imaginary civilization have; they live what kind of physics laws apply in the ‘upper universe’we will never know.

If we look at it from a different angle, who do not define being an ‘advanced civilization’ as we do; that is, there may even be ‘advanced’ species with a completely different perspective instead of energy production-consumption and ‘advanced technology’… This means that finding them will be harder than anything else.

We talked about the Kardashev Scale and what possible alien civilizations can and cannot do. Do you think there is a civilization out there on any level that we haven’t met yet? Do you think we will meet anyone in the near future, if any? Don’t forget to share your answers and your questions about it with us!