[Ogmios]

There is a scale by a scientist for levels of civilization, 1 being the most advanced, and level 5 being the least advanced, I am looking for it now so that I can give you specifics.

But basically level 5 are fossil fuelers etc,

Level 4 are fission

level 3 have interstellar travel

level 2 have intergalactic

level 1 can take energy from the universe itself

I am looking for it so that I can be more specific, but I believe those are the basic models for each level, I am probably wrong, because it's been a while since I studied it.

[JethroHathAWay]

I see. Tesla was at level one. Some are at different levels. The way they think I mean. Thanks Ogi

[PatrickHenry]

I read a different classification. One of the levels (above us, obviously) would use all the energy put out by their star. Probably they'd build a Dyson Sphere around their sun -- and thus might not be detectable by us.

[Ogmios]

Yep, I was totally off, totally and completely wrong.

Here's the page, Dr Kaku is the man that edxplains it.

Physicspost

Here is the basic premise of the scales.

Type I – this civilization harnesses the energy output of an entire planet.

Type II – this civilization harnesses the energy output of a star, and generates about 10 billion times the energy output of a Type I civilization.

Type III – this civilization harnesses the energy output of a galaxy, or about 10 billion time the energy output of a Type II civilization.

A Type I civilization would be able to manipulate truly planetary energies. They might, for example, control or modify their weather. They would have the power to manipulate planetary phenomena, such as hurricanes, which can release the energy of hundreds of hydrogen bombs. Perhaps volcanoes or even earthquakes may be altered by such a civilization.

A Type II civilization may resemble the Federation of Planets seen on the TV program Star Trek (which is capable of igniting stars and has colonized a tiny fraction of the near-by stars in the galaxy). A Type II civilization might be able to manipulate the power of solar flares.

A Type III civilization may resemble the Borg, or perhaps the Empire found in the Star Wars saga. They have colonized the galaxy itself, extracting energy from hundreds of billions of stars.

By contrast, we are a Type 0 civilization, which extracts its energy from dead plants (oil and coal). Growing at the average rate of about 3% per year, however, one may calculate that our own civilization may attain Type I status in about 100-200 years, Type II status in a few thousand years, and Type III status in about 100,000 to a million years. These time scales are insignificant when compared with the universe itself.

On this scale, one may now rank the different propulsion systems available to different types of civilizations:

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


Thanks for making me look that up, because I was so far off that it is insane.

And now I am not!! LOL

[Alamo-Girl]

One question which has never been resolved to my satisfaction is why there are not a whole bunch of new body plans since the Cambrian explosion despite all the extinctions (opportunities) since then?

A Freeper suggested this was due to the way the scientists think - some creatures might have just as easily been placed in a new phylum. Another said that all the possible body plans have been used.

Neither of these answers satisfy my curiosity. If bodies are being created randomly by mutation, I would expect body plans found in nature to be far more diverse than the SciFi creatures designed by Hollywood.

Any input???