Bernie Zelazny called the meeting to order at 7:32 PM and informed the 5 folks in attendance that there would be no business meeting as he was the only officer present. He then began the program, an interview from “Astrobiology Magazine” with renowned physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku, as he considers the physics of extra-terrestrial civilizations, and whether we can classify their evolution judging from our own work in progress.
 

           Dr. Kaku initially states that “humanity may face an existential shock as the current list of a dozen Jupiter-sized extra-solar planets swells to hundreds of earth-sized planets, almost identical twins of our celestial homeland...[which] will stimulate an active effort to determine if any of them harbor life, perhaps some with civilizations more advanced than ours.” He further states, “Although it is impossible to predict the precise features of such advanced civilizations, their broad outlines can be analyzed using the laws of physics.
           “Specifically, we can rank civilizations by their energy consumption, using the following principles:
           “1) The laws of thermodynamics. Even an advanced civilization is bound by the laws of thermodynamics, especially the Second Law, and can hence be ranked by the energy at their disposal.
           “2) The laws of stable matter. Baryonic matter (e.g. based on protons and neutrons) tends to clump into three large groupings: planets, stars and galaxies. (This is a well-defined by product of stellar and galactic evolution, thermonuclear fusion, etc.) Thus, their energy will also be based on three distinct types, and this places upper limits on their rate of energy consumption.
           “3) The laws of planetary evolution. Any advanced civilization must grow in energy consumption faster than the frequency of life-threatening catastrophes (e.g. meteor impacts, ice ages, supernovas, etc.). If they grow any slower, they are doomed to extinction. This places mathematical lower limits on the rate of growth of these civilizations.
           “...[I]n 1964...Russian astrophysicist Nicolai Kardashev theorized that advanced civilizations must therefore be grouped according to three types: Type I, II, and III, which have mastered planetary, stellar and galactic forms of energy, respectively.” Based on the three types above, our civilization would be ranked a Type 0 as we have yet to even master planetary energy. Dr. Kaku states, “Berkeley astronomer Don Goldsmith reminds us that the earth receives about one billionth of the sun’s energy, and that humans utilize about one millionth of that. So we consume about one million billionth of the suns total energy.”
           “...For example, a Type I civilization is a truly planetary one, which has mastered most forms of planetary energy. Their energy output may be on the order of thousands to millions of times our current planetary output. Mark Twain once said, ‘Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it.’ This may change with a Type I civilization, which has enough energy to modify the weather. They also have enough energy to alter the course of earthquakes, volcanoes, and build cities on their oceans... Eventually, after several thousand years, a Type I civilization will exhaust the power of a planet, and will derive their energy by consuming the entire output of their suns energy, or roughly a billion trillion trillion ergs per second.”
           Dr. Kaku goes on to theorize about the length of time it might take and the obstacles that would confront societies as they advanced to Type II and Type III civilizations. “[Freeman] Dyson has proposed that a Type II civilization may even build a gigantic sphere around their star to more efficiently utilize its total energy output. Even if they try to conceal their existence, they must, by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, emit waste heat. From outer space, their planet may glow like a Christmas tree ornament. Dyson has even proposed looking specifically for infrared emissions (rather than radio and TV) to identify these Type II civilizations.
           “Perhaps the only serious threat to a Type II civilization would be a nearby supernova explosion, whose sudden eruption could scorch their planet in a withering blast of X-rays, killing all life forms. Thus, perhaps the most interesting civilization is a Type III civilization, for it is truly immortal. They have exhausted the power of a single star, and have reached for other star systems. No natural catastrophe known to science is capable of destroying a Type III civilization. 
           “Faced with a neighboring supernova, it would have several alternatives, such as altering the evolution of dying red giant star which is about to explode, or leaving this particular star system and terraforming a nearby planetary system.
           “There are roadblocks to an emerging Type III civilization. Eventually, it bumps up against another iron law of physics, the theory of relativity. Dyson estimates that this may delay the transition to a Type III civilization by perhaps millions of years. 
           But even with the light barrier, there are a number of ways of expanding at near-light velocities. For example, the ultimate measure of a rockets capability is measured by something called “specific impulse” (defined as the product of the thrust and the duration, measured in units of seconds). Chemical rockets can attain specific impulses of several hundred to several thousand seconds. Ion engines can attain specific impulses of tens of thousands of seconds. But to attain near-light speed velocity, one has to achieve specific impulse of about 30 million seconds, which is far beyond our current capability, but not that of a Type III civilization. A variety of propulsion systems would be available for sub-light speed probes  (such as ram-jet fusion engines, photonic engines, etc.).
           “There is also the possibility that a Type II or Type III civilization might be able to reach the fabled Planck energy with their machines (1019 billion electron volts). This is energy a quadrillion times larger than our most powerful atom smasher. This energy, as fantastic as it may seem, is (by definition) within the range of a Type II or III civilization.”
           In closing, Dr. Kaku states, “Astronomer John Barrows of the University of Sussex writes, “Suppose that we extend the classification upwards. Members of these hypothetical civilizations of Type IV, V, VI,...and so on, would be able to manipulate the structures in the universe on larger and larger scales, encompassing groups of galaxies, clusters, and superclusters of galaxies.” Civilizations beyond Type III may have enough energy to escape our dying universe via holes in space.
           Lastly, physicist Alan Guth of MIT, one of the originators of the inflationary universe theory, has even computed the energy necessary to create a baby universe in the laboratory (the temperature is 1,000 trillion degrees, which is within the range of these hypothetical civilizations).”
           Those present briefly discussed the implications of the above and how it may impact life on Earth in the future. The entire interview and further links to material contained above can be found on the Internet at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article939.html.
 

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