About M class Asteroids, Kardashev scale and Dyson sphere

Recently it came to my attention the existence of Psyche asteroid. Before that I was unware of this marvel of nature in asteroid belt. The uniqueness of Psyche asteroid comes from its composition of pure Iron and nickel. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche for more details about this wonder.  When I read about Psyche flood of Ideas came associated with Dyson sphere, Kardashev Type II civilization and grandiose plans that we abandoned since 1970. Let’s organize and talk about all this in order.

Kardashev scale of civilizations

In 1964 Russian astronomer Nikolai Kardashev propose a scale to describe civilization advancement level based on the amount of its energy use, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale for details. In summary the scale divides the civilization into following three categories:
Type I civilization: They can utilize all the energy available to their planet. To clarify I can say that this civilization should be able to use all the energy radiated by the Sun on Earth surface. Basically solar panel installation, with area of circle similar to size of the Earth diameter and 100% efficient.
Type II civilization: This civilization can utilize all the energy radiated by Sun. Think of it as Sun in a jar or Fusion reactor with the sun in its core.
Type III civilization: This civilization utilizes energy of all the stars in our galaxy. The analogy would be bunch of fireflies in a jar, each being a star.

In my own humble opinion this scale is simplistic, primitive and outlived its usefulness. It did great job providing foundations of scale to measure civilization level but it is not definitive and requires more work. One consideration that is lucking from this scale is computation power of civilization. In my opinion it is far more important to be able to control all that power than achieve it without control. Another requirement would be humanness. The Type I or Type II level civilizations without accommodating computational levels and social responsibility will be very short lived. Imagine yahoos from 1945, Manhattan project(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project), who exploded first nuclear bomb getting their hands on Type I or Type II level of energy. All those physicist, that I called yahoos, did not even have a clue if the nuclear explosion in our atmosphere would have caused chain reaction and extinguish the light of our civilization. No nation or group of scientists has a right to do an experiment like this. Results of  Manhattan project were small and we got lucky. I think it would have been better to lose the war than risking potentially civilization ending experiment. They did not have a right to conduct this experiment! And one might think that we have outgrown this childish age of our civilization, when we play with fire and hope nothing happens. Not yet, in that respect we are in dark ages and following is just sample of our stupidity as civilization:

1. The scientist at Cern Collider are smashing atoms at high energy hoping to learn from bits of particles they smash. What if they "succeed" to unleash some particle they cannot manage? One thing we can be sure of that they do not know results or consequences of their experiments. They cannot even have an educated guess on the results but yet they try. The reward is that some nut job gets a Nobel prize for interpreting results of an experiment. Why do we reward such behavior?

2. Global warming, not even funny and it can be prevented/solved with primitive technologies

3. Biotechnology or more precisely luck of it. Most of our understanding of genetics and biotechnology is rudimentary, there is not one person in the world that knows how do we exist or our biodiversity works at molecular level.

4. Doctors and state of medicine. Being arguably the oldest profession in the world does not help to describe the state of medicine at our age. Doctors have no idea how to cure half of the diseases in the world but I bet they can name all the bones in human anatomy in latin. How sad is that. What about brain surgeons who drill our skulls to release internal pressure. Do you see their roots from barber surgeons? What about calling sick persons patients, so they don't get attached to them, disposable/expandable comes to my mind. Yet doctors are most caring individuals forced into this profession by system that can be described as flawed at best. The guilt and inability to help, burns out the surgeons, and makes them into alcoholics.

5. How about the parasites/viruses that invade human bodies and basically use us at the lowest meaning of the word. How shameful, when will we wake up from this and do something about it? We think we are at the top of the food chain yet powerless against some virus that uses our body as source of food and reproduction.

Lets leave the state of sadness and all this negativity and move to something more interesting and try to define better scale of civilization. There would be six criteria's used for measurements, Energy, Humanness, Engineering, Communications, Transportation and Computational Power. To humor you I will call it Antonyan's scale for civilizations.

Type 0 civilization


This describes us well when we actually discovered the fire and started living in caves and mastering bows and arrows to feed our offspring.
Energy: This is when civilization mastered some energy source and can improve its living condition by improving its environment.  The energy source we discovered and used was fire and that transformed our lives.

Humanness: Basic laws of respecting possessions and kindness to each other and children

Engineering: Ability to build weapons used for hunting and basic tools for drawing

Communications: Developing basic lingual skills. Communication around a mile is possible using vocal calls.

Transportation: The only way of travelling on land is by foot and rivers are used with primitive kayaks. Average distance traveled is about 5 miles per day for most advanced members

Computational power: We learned to count and mastered basic communications involving numbers

Type 1 civilization


This type describes our civilization during dark ages and Renaissance.
Energy: This civilization utilizing energy to create new material, not found in the environment. They use it to melt metals, create ceramics and learn basic skills of machine building. In this type of civilization we start of using other forms of energy to power machinery. In our case it was wind mills, water wheels and animal power (horses, bulls etc.). Also start of using coal as energy source.

Humanness: This civilization acknowledges basic human and property rights. First laws are published and enforced. Art is created for the first time with such astonishing qualities that it rivals natural beauty.

Engineering:  Simple machines are created and quality of everyday tools is improved. Written language is invented and knowledge starts to accumulate. Machines like printing press are invented.

Communications:  Long distance communications are possible covering over hundred miles in one day.

Transportation: Various animals are used for travel over the land and ships are used in the sea. Most advanced members travel about 30 miles per day

Computational power: Basic math and geometry is mastered. Notion of zero is introduced and formulas developed for everyday tasks. Analog computers(slide rule, multiplication table, various lookup tables)  are created to assist  computational tasks.

Type 2 civilization

This describes state of our civilization until 1970. 

Energy: This civilization utilizing new sources energy including nuclear. Chemical industries flourish and create everything from plastics to pesticides. Crude oil and coal is becoming paramount energy source. Start of using other forms of energy like wind and solar. Electricity is produced and used at large scale. Note that use of nuclear power was oddity and accident in our civilization and it is not listed as energy source here.

Humanness: This civilization acknowledges basic human and animal rights. First environmental laws are published. Slavery is abolished. Movies are created with such astonishing qualities that it surpass natural beauty.

Engineering:  Explosion of new ideas and capabilities followed by swift implementation effecting everyday life. Quality of life is hugely improved due to various household appliances. For the first time the air is conquered as medium for travel using airplanes and rocket engines are used for Low Earth missions. Turbines are invented and become main power generators. Radio waves are invented and widely used for communication, radar and even in household appliances. For the first time in the history we make Audio amplifiers, TV's and movies that reach limits of human senses.

Communications:  Long distance communications are possible covering thousands of miles in one day. Radio waves are main technology used for long range communications and copper wiring is used for short range.

Transportation: Internal combustion engines for cars, trains and airplanes make the most mobile civilization to date. Most advanced members travel several thousand miles per day. For the first time in history we transport large amounts of energy on Earth. The energy is transferred hundreds of miles via electricity transmission lines, oil/gas pipelines and over other forms of transport.

Computational power:
This is the Renaissance for computational technologies. New computational machines are introduced quickly and even first models of personal computers appear in the market. New programming languages are introduced and program complexities are increased.

Type 3 Civilization

This is where we are at its infancy.

Energy: This civilization will be using only clean energy on Earth. This only includes solar power generation. All other energy sources will be banned on earth and reserved only for exploration and new settlements. Electricity production and use is decentralized on Earth. All kinds of batteries are banned on Earth and used cautiously elsewhere. Available energy for utilization is several magnitudes higher than all the energy available from Sun at Earth surface. Bulk of the energy is produced near the sun. Energy levels are so high that allow basic housekeeping of solar system. Use of nuclear and thermonuclear power is frowned upon as inferior short therm solution to problems.

Humanness: This civilization lives in harmony with environment and all the rights are guaranteed and enforced. First environmental laws are published covering solar system. There is no hunger, crime, homelessness, disease or parasites. Inhabitants of the planet are in full control of climate and animal population. High education is mandatory and people are encouraged to learn several professions and change jobs frequently.  Most humans live creative and happy lives an die from old age. Immortality is banned/meaningless. Artificial intelligence above level II is banned, level two being intelligence of human child. No machine is allowed to compete for human jobs, sports or activities. We don't want another chess fiasco.

Engineering:  The motto for this time is that technology should be invisible. Humans live in minimalist housing with unlimited clean air, water and food. Insitu production and local resource utilization is widely implemented. Interplanetary travel becomes regular and several planets are populated. Asteroid belt is used to create the ninth planet and it is made habitable. Automatic interstellar probes are lunched in all directions with cargo for exploration and possible human civilization expansion. Mars, Europe, Mercury, Titan and Venus are colonized, with newly created planet in line for colonization. Terra-forming is done regularly using vast amounts of matter and energy generated by the solar harvesters.

Communications:  Long distance communications are carried by laser communications. Terra watt lasers are utilized routinely for communications.

Transportation: Wireless energy systems make possible the transportation system that has no apparent energy source or storage. Space elevators are use for earth to space travel with regular interplanetary missions constantly crossing our solar system. Also massive energy and matter stream are created in solar system to aid the human colonization and exploration. Most advanced members of society travel less than five miles a day.

Computational power:
Computational power is almost unlimited. The programming languages and skills are not needed but part of mandatory education. Most computers does not have physical manifestation and are just there to assist you. 

Type 4 Civilization

At basic level this is Type 3 civilization at galactic scale and bigger responsibilities

Energy: The energy level available to this civilization is all the energy in vicinity of 10 light years radius sphere. This energy limitation comes from its transportation inefficiencies. Even though the civilization colonized the whole galaxy, the energy usage is limited by how much of it can be transported effectively. Higher energy utilization is possible with combination of such star clusters.

Humanness: Same as type 3 with exemption of galactic environmental rules and regulations. Also there is provision for other intelligent life, preservation of natural beauty and infant civilizations.

Engineering: The scale is galactic and mostly focused in Terra-forming and natural disaster prevention. The super nova events are banned and quasar's are used for communication and creating new stars. All the black holes are mapped and utilized as garbage disposals. New black hole creation is reserved on neighboring colonial acceptance and practically banned, unless it is done to prevent supernova explosion. 

Communications: For the first time all communications are relayed through black holes and almost instantaneous. 

Transportation: The interstellar transportation is reserved for colonization only. The exploration is done using robotic missions. There is no energy/matter transfers between stars, but technology is created to make such bridge possible in case of emergency. First attempts of intergalactic travel is done with focused interstellar mass and energy flow. This flow creates wondering  intergalactic stars with human colonies to bridge the intergalactic void. String of such stars create a bridge that will allow intergalactic travel in the course of few thousand years. Other galaxy colonization will occur at hundreds of thousands years of scale.

Computation power: It is unlimited and available through the universe. The Gaya class artificial intelligence is encouraged and created through the inhabited universe. Main goal of Gaya class artificial intelligence is preservation of all life at planetary scale.

We are type 3 civilization...


And that fact comes with responsibilities. And I think this is where the M type Psyche asteroid will help us to catapult into future. To understand how much metal do we have in this asteroid we will create imaginary sphere with two cm wall thickness and calculate its diameter. Radius of such sphere comes out to be around 100000 KM or in other words covering about third of the distance between Earth and moon. This is when Earth is inside this sphere, at the center, for whatever reason.
Another way to estimate amount of nickel iron in this asteroid is calculating  how long it will take to use it all if we utilize one million ton of this material every second. This number turns out to be about 719 years. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_iron_ore_production) the current Iron production is 3'220'000 ton a year and at this rate we can use Psyche asteroid for 7 billion years, and I really hope we rump up our Iron utilization rate soon. The best use for this material would be utilizing it to create solar harvesters. Solar harvester is a kind of power/matter stream generation station, parked close to sun and it is going to be the main energy source for jump starting our type 3 civilization with unlimited energy. Of course we will need billions of them, but no worries, we have the Humanness and computational power to handle this power.

Energy: We are well on our way to convert all our energy use to solar on Earth, so no need to worry about that. We need to ban the new nuclear or any other energy generation facilities on Earth, including wind and hydroelectric. This would be long but fruitful step to cleaner environment. Solar Harvester will provide the rest of energy for Terra-forming and space travel. But to jump start the technology we need to have nuclear power stations on Moon, Mars, Mercury  and Psyche to begin with and have spaceships powered with hundreds of megawatt nuclear reactors cruising our solar system for next 100 years.

Humanness: Sadly we have a long road ahead of us to reach the levels to claim our foothold of type 3 civilization in this regard. But nothing prevents us to reach higher education, eradicate parasites and all disease. This would be toughest part and eradicating hanger or homelessness would be easy. Reaching type 3 level of civilization would mean that all the members of our humanity should get there together, with no exemptions. We need to learn more about human anatomy, internal flora of microorganisms and chemical composition of our blood. This is basic and when done in massive scale, we can conquer any disease. This is basically large statistical analyses job that can be done with simple wearable sensor that is tapped into our bloodstream and tied to individuals DNA, health and statistics. Multiply this information million's of times and several years and you will have database of symptoms diagnosing any disease instantaneously. And please don't involve the doctors yet, this is a job for small startup, that should make its database public or available to doctors at fair price when they finish it.

Engineering: This is least of our worries, since we have engineering talent unmatched in known universe. No seriously; the Terra-forming level engineering and energy management is trivial. And we have brilliant Engineering pool fit for type 3 civilization and limited only by politics and business interests. 

Communications: Currently the laser based communication is in its infancy. But before we know it we will have network of interplanetary relays covering our solar system with powerful laser based communication system. This is a must but again not much of a engineering challenge.

Transportation: We are set here as well with ion engines that can develop 210KM/s speed, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-Stage_4-Grid . This is near light speed and all we need to do is scale up the technology to use hundreds of megawatts of power. Also the wireless power transfer technology is in its infancy but holds definitive future. The massive use of wireless power transfer technology would transform the transportation systems on earth and beyond. There would be no need for batteries and fuel storage.

Computation power: We are well set here and even if we freeze our current day computing technology for hundred years, we will hardly see any difference.

Wait but what about Dyson Sphere

Well it is interesting mega-structure to consider, you can learn more about it in Wikipedia article.
But any serious analyses will find it useless for any type of civilization. It is half cooked idea at best used as good thought experiment. There is not even a proof that such sphere would have stable orbit and it is not for luck of trying. Simple thought experiments show that if Dyson sphere rotates than it will fall on the star, if it does not then same happens. This structure is not even fit for consideration.

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