Structure · branch
Energy
Civilizations are energy-conversion engines. Kardashev is a tech tree with the leaves stripped off.
This hangs on Physics.
See on the tree26 September 2024. Once you understand Kardashev Scale, it becomes utterly obvious that essentially all energy generation will be solar. Also, just do the math on solar on Earth and you soon figure out that a relatively small corner of Texas or New Mexico can easily serve all US electricity.
Nikolai Kardashev, 1964, ranked civilizations by the energy they can command. Type I, a planet. Type II, a star. Type III, a galaxy.
12 May 2025 he walks the scale in public. Energy harnessed on Earth will increase a hundredfold and will mostly be solar aka fusion aka starlight. Then perhaps a billionfold at Kardashev II, with space solar power, and another billionfold if we harness the energy of our galaxy. A lot of upside potential.
22 March 2026: Any self-respecting civilization needs to reach at least Kardashev II.
That is the physical budget of this tree. Landauer still collects heat for every bit. STARLIGHT prints 42 on full reduction. Found after. The Kardashev sentences do not need it.
Once you understand Kardashev Scale, it becomes utterly obvious that essentially all energy generation will be solar. Also, just do the math on solar on Earth and you soon figure out that a relatively small corner of Texas or New Mexico can easily serve all US electricity.
As we progress along the Kardashev Scale, energy harnessed on Earth will increase a hundredfold and will mostly be solar aka fusion aka starlight. Then energy harnessed will increase perhaps a billionfold if we make it to Kardashev II, with space solar power, and another billionfold if we harness the energy of our galaxy. What I’m saying is that there is a lot of upside potential!!!
Any self-respecting civilization needs to reach at least Kardashev II
All-In, 31 October 2025. Kardashev Scale 1, a planet. Scale 2, a star. Scale 3, a galaxy. We are a few percent of Type I, optimistically. At Type II, everything is solar power and the rest is noise. The Sun produces well over a billion times more energy than everything on Earth combined.
Hangs on Energy
Hangs on
What hangs from here
Sources
- Musk, Elon. “Once you understand Kardashev Scale, it becomes utterly obvious that essentially all energy generation will be solar.” X, September 26, 2024.
- Musk, Elon. “As we progress along the Kardashev Scale, energy harnessed on Earth will increase a hundredfold and will mostly be solar aka fusion aka starlight.” X, May 12, 2025.
- Musk, Elon. “Any self-respecting civilization needs to reach at least Kardashev II.” X, March 22, 2026.
- Kardashev, N. S. “Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations.” Soviet Astronomy 8 (1964): 217–221.
- Landauer, Rolf. “Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process.” IBM Journal of Research and Development 5, no. 3 (1961): 183-191.