Journal of Science and Technology ISSN: 2456-5660 Volume 06, Issue 01, Jan-February 2021 www.jst.org.in DOI: https://doi.org/10.46243/jst.2021.v6.i1.pp148-152 Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status Aditi Namboodiripad1, Nimal C N2 1 (S7, Computer Science and Engineering, Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering & Technology, Kalady, Kerala, India) 2 (Associate Professor,Department of Management Studies, Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering & Technology, Kalady, Kerala, India) 2 Corresponding Author: nimal.mba@adishankara.ac.in To Cite this Article Aditi Namboodiripad and Nimal C N, “Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status”, Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 06, Issue 01, Jan-February 2021, pp148-152 Article Info Received: 15-09-2020 Revised: 03-01-2021 Accepted: 08-01-2021 Published: 11-01-2021 Abstract: The Kardashev Scale is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy they are able to use.Kardashev’s idea of classifying civilizations according to their ability to harness energy came up when he analysed how powerful an extra-terrestrial radio signal would have to be in order to be detected by conventional radio astronomical techniques. The numbers he came up with were quite high, and this furnished the basis of his tripartite division of civilizations into Type I, II, and III. Further scientists like Carl Sagan worked on finding out where exactly the earth stood in terms of usage of energy on the Kardashev Scale and came up with a formula for calculating the same. Physicist and futurist Michio Kaku suggested the number of years it would take the humans to attain Type I, II and III status if they consistently increased their energy consumption.Taking his study further, in this paper, based on time series algorithm, using such statistical tools as linear regression we try to calculate the year in which earth will attain Type I status. It was found that earth would reach Kardashev’s Type 1 status in 327 years’ time. Keywords: Kardashev Scale,Extra-terrestrial Communication, Civilisation Type _____________________________________________________________________________________ I. Introduction Formulated around 50 years ago by the Russian radio astronomer Nikolai Kardashev his analysis of usage of energy by civilisations in the universe is still the gold standard. In this paper we discuss the Kardashev Scale, where our mother earth currently is on the Kardashev Scale, how it is progressing and when it will achieve the next level. Sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), stories of aliens, extra-terrestrial life and communication with them have always fascinated scientists and common man alike. While the common man watched reels of films filled with the improbable, maybe even impossible accounts of humans becoming friends or bitter enemies with these aliens and poorly animated intergalactic wars, scientists silently went about understanding whether life was possible in other planets, how advanced were life in other planets and whether inter galactic travel and communication were possible. 1.1 Kardashev Scale One such person was Nikolai Kardashev. The Kardashev Scale is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy they are able to use.He was one among the pioneers of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and his idea of classifying civilizations according to their ability to harness energy was directly related to his experience in radio telescopy. While Kardashev1(1964) was conducting his studies he came across the question of how powerful an extra-terrestrial radio signal would have to be in order to be detected, by conventional radio astronomical techniques. The numbers he came up with were quite high, and this formed the basis of his division of civilizations into Type I, Type II, and Type III. Published by: Longman Publishers 148 | Page  Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status 1.2 Types of Civilisations According to Kardashev the three types of civilizations he recognized are: Type I – whose technological level is close to the level presently attained on the earth, with energy consumption at ~4 x 1019 erg/sec. Type II – a civilization capable of harnessing the energy radiated by its own star, with energy consumption at ~4 x 1033 erg/sec. Type III – a civilization in possession of energy on the scale of its own galaxy, with energy consumption at ~4 x 1044 erg/sec. Kardashev specified for a Type I civilization a, “technological level close to the level presently attained on the earth.” Kardashev did not say what “close” means in this context. II. Objective of The Study The objective of this study was to understand if there was a relation between the change in energy consumption over the years, there by a change in K Values and if so is there a clear pattern that can be extrapolated into the future so that we can check out when the planet earth would achieve the Type 1 Civilisation levels. III. Earth’s Status on Kardashev Scale Further scientists likeCarl Sagan, George Basalla and David Lamb worked on finding out where exactly the earth stood in terms of usage of energy on the Kardashev Scale. Lamb2(2001) came to the conclusion that Type I would have a similar technological level to Earth, using 6.6 × 1012 watts. This civilization could engage in something akin to the present power output of Earth for the purpose of interstellar communication. Type I civilizations would have the power to restructure entire planets. According to Basalla3(2006), The Earth has not quite reached Type I status because its inhabitants are unable to capture all of the radiant energy streaming down upon it. For this reason, Sagan 4(2000) said that the Earth was more accurately called a Type .7 civilization. This is an entirely reasonable extrapolation of Kardashev. The logic Sagangave is as follows: The energy gap between a Type I and a Type II civilization or between a Type II and a Type III civilization is enormous – a factor of about ten billion in each instance. It seems useful, if the matter is to be considered seriously, to have a finer degree of discrimination. I would suggest Type 1.0 as a civilization using 1016 watts for interstellar communication; Type 1.1, 1017 watts; Type 1.2, 1018 watts, and so on. He came up with figures of 0.7 based on the formula he created for calculating the same. For the past decade, global energy consumption has been increasing at an average rate of 2.3 percent per year – more growth in years of economic growth or difficult winters, less in years of recession and mild winters. Roughly, this means that global energy consumption will double every thirty years, so that since the time Kardashev wrote his paper, global energy consumption is well on its way to quadrupling. 3.1 Progression of energy consumption and Kardashev Values In the following table the researchers have calculated the Kardashev Values from the energy consumed over the years from 1965, the year after Kardashev published his paper to 2019. The energy components we considered when calculating the total energy consumption were: Coal, Oil, Gas, Hydropower, Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Traditional Bio mass, Bio fuels and other renewables. The energy consumption and K value calculations are given in the Table 1 below. 149 | Page  Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status Table 1.K Value Calculated from Energy Consumption Year Total(TWh) Total(TW) K value Year Total(TWh) Total(TW) K value 1965 50681 5.785502 0.676234 1993 100322 11.45228 0.705889 1966 52945 6.04395 0.678132 1994 101592 11.59726 0.706436 1967 54668 6.240639 0.679523 1995 103370 11.80023 0.707189 1968 57484 6.5621 0.681704 1996 106244 12.12831 0.70838 1969 60803 6.940982 0.684142 1997 107301 12.24897 0.70881 1970 64105 7.317922 0.686439 1998 107962 12.32443 0.709077 1971 66327 7.571575 0.687919 1999 109833 12.53801 0.709823 1972 69413 7.923858 0.689894 2000 112381 12.82888 0.710819 1973 72939 8.32637 0.692046 2001 113558 12.96324 0.711271 1974 73005 8.333904 0.692085 2002 115844 13.2242 0.712137 1975 73205 8.356735 0.692204 2003 119927 13.6903 0.713641 1976 76762 8.762785 0.694264 2004 124931 14.26153 0.715417 1977 79119 9.031849 0.695578 2005 128829 14.70651 0.716751 1978 81347 9.286187 0.696784 2006 132161 15.08687 0.71786 1979 83842 9.571005 0.698096 2007 136141 15.54121 0.719148 1980 83167 9.49395 0.697745 2008 137309 15.67454 0.719519 1981 82609 9.430251 0.697452 2009 135185 15.43208 0.718842 1982 82038 9.365068 0.697151 2010 141057 16.1024 0.720689 1983 83018 9.476941 0.697667 2011 144327 16.47568 0.721684 1984 86344 9.856621 0.699373 2012 145975 16.66381 0.722177 1985 88124 10.05982 0.700259 2013 148182 16.91575 0.722829 1986 89819 10.25331 0.701086 2014 148955 17.004 0.723055 1987 92616 10.5726 0.702418 2015 149653 17.08368 0.723258 1988 95720 10.92694 0.70385 2016 151254 17.26644 0.72372 1989 97517 11.13208 0.704658 2017 153513 17.52432 0.724364 1990 98551 11.25011 0.705116 2018 157366 17.96416 0.725441 1991 99086 11.31119 0.705351 2019 158839 18.13231 0.725845 1992 99892 11.4032 0.705703 Energy Consumption Data Set Source: Our World in Data (http://ourworldindata.org/) Calculations K=(log10(P)-6)/10 where, K is Kardashev Value P is Power in Watts TWh/8760=TW TW x 1012= Watts K 1973= (log10(8.33 X 1012) - 6)/10= 0.69 K 2019= (log10(18.13 X 1012) - 6)/10= 0.73 IV. Extrapolation of Kardashev Values Now if Sagan and the rest spoke about where the earth stands in terms of Kardashev Scale vis-a-vis energy consumption Michio Kaku went ahead and worked out the extrapolation of Kardashev Values. Kaku5(2008), a futurist besides being a physicist is poetic in drawing out the implications of Kardashev’s civilization types as he sees them. For example, here is how Kaku defines a Type I civilization: those that harvest planetary power, utilizing all the sunlight that strikes their planet. They can, perhaps, harness the power of volcanoes, manipulate the weather, control earthquakes, and build cities on the ocean. All planetary power is within their control. Kaku6 (2011) goes into much more detail in Chapter 8, “The Future of Humanity,” in his book Physics of the Future, where he interprets and extrapolates Kardashev civilization types. Kaku suggested that, if humans 150 | Page  Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status increase their energy consumption at an average rate of 3 percent each year, they may attain Type I status in 100– 200 years, Type II status in a few thousand years, and Type III status in 100,000 to a million years. 4.1 K Value Forecast Taking his study further we calculated the year in which earth will attain Type I status, as shown in Figure 1 below. The dataset for the same is given in Table 2. Figure 1.K Value Forecast Table 2. K Value Forecast Year Forecasted K value Year Forecasted K value 2020 0.72852789 2195 0.87422001 2025 0.732690522 2205 0.882545274 2035 0.741015786 2215 0.890870538 2045 0.74934105 2225 0.899195802 2055 0.757666314 2235 0.907521066 2065 0.765991578 2245 0.91584633 2075 0.774316842 2255 0.924171594 2085 0.782642106 2265 0.932496858 2095 0.79096737 2275 0.940822122 2105 0.799292634 2285 0.949147386 2115 0.807617898 2295 0.95747265 2125 0.815943162 2305 0.965797914 2135 0.824268426 2315 0.974123178 2145 0.83259369 2325 0.982448442 2155 0.840918954 2335 0.990773707 2165 0.849244218 2345 0.999098971 2175 0.857569482 2346 0.999931497 2185 0.865894746 2347 1.000764023 *The Kardashev scale is predicted to reach Type 1 civilization in the year 2347 i.e., after 327 years to reach type I civilization. 151 | Page  Predicting the Timeline for Earth Achieving Kardashev Scale Type 1 Status 4.2 Analysis Methodology Linear regression was the statistical tool used to forecast the K values from 2020 to 2347. Linear regression in this case was used in the modelling of the relationship between years 1965 and 2019 and K Values. It was obvious there was a clear pattern of relationship between the two variables and the best fitwas plotted and extrapolated, to predict the K Value. The equation is in the form Y= a + bX, where Y is the dependent variable,X is the independent variable, b is the slope of the line and a is the y-intercept. 4.3 Scope and limitation of the study We have extrapolated the K Values based on the historical data available on energy consumption. First of all there could be further energy sources than those we have considered. If not presently there could be in the future which would accelerate the energy consumption. There could be other factors or events in play in the external environment which could either accelerate or decelerate energy use in the future. To that extent this study can only be taken as an academic exercise. We can see that we are moving fast and growing in energy use yearly to the extent that at one time in the not too distant future (as early as 2347) we would be using the energy resources available in our Mother Earth to the maximum. V. Conclusion It was while doing a study on sustainable development of the earth’s resources and usage of renewable energy that the researchers came across the word Kardashev Scale and going through researches on the same excited their interest in the direction energy consumption was taking. However, we choose to interpret and extrapolate Kardashev, we need to accustom ourselves to thinking as rigorously about civilization as we do about science. The use of energy resources have to be in a sustainable manner and it is obvious that this is not being done. If we don’t do so we may reach Type I by 2347 but may never see Type II as we may destroy ourselves by our carelessness and indifference to the environment. References [1]. Kardashev, N. S., “Transmission of information by Extraterrestrial civilizations,” Soviet Astronomy, Vol. 8, No. 2, Sept.-Oct. 1964. [2]. Lamb, David, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: A Philosophical Inquiry, Routledge, London & New York, 2001, p. 182. [3].Basalla, George, Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials,Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006, p. 148. [4]. Sagan, Carl, The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2000, Part Three, Chapter 34. [5]. Kaku, Michio, The Physics of the Impossible, New York, et al.: Doubleday, 2008, p. 145. [6]. Kaku, Michio, Physics of the Future, New York, et al.: Doubleday, 2011. 152 | Page