October 1st, 2008 - Michio Kaku on 3 Types of Civilizations
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"When we physicists look in outer space for alien life we don't look for Little Green Men, we look for Type One, Type Two, and Type Three civilizations. A Type 1 civilization has harnessed its planetary power. They control earthquakes, the weather, volcanoes, they have cities on the ocean anything planetary they control that's type one.
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"A type two civilization is Stellar, they've exhausted the power of a planet and they get their energy directly from their Mother Star. They don't get a sun tan on a weekend, they use solar flares they use the power of the sun itself to energize their huge machines.
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"Eventually they exhaust the power of a star and they go Galactic - they harness the power of billions of stars within a Galaxy.
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"Now for example Buck Rogers would correspond to a type 1 civilization, a planetary civilization. Star Trek and the Federation of planets who have colonized a few star systems would correspond to a type 2 system... and the Empire of Star Wars would correspond to a type three Civilization.
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"Now what are we on this scale? We are Type Zero. We don't even rate on this scale, we get our energy not from stars or galaxies... we get our energy from dead plants, oil and coal. But we can calculate when we will attain type 1 status: in about 100 years."
Michio goes on to explain (back in 2008) that he sees the "evidence of this historic transition" from Type 0 to Type 1 every day in the newspaper... based on the emergence of a 'Type 1 Economy' a 'Type 1 Language' a 'Type 1 Culture' and a 'Type 1 Telephone System' (The Internet).
In this post I'm going to propose that in addition... Bitcoin is the Type 1 Capital and AI the Type 1 Intelligence emerging as we transition from Type 0 to Type 1 probably over the next 100 years.
Bitcoin's Mining and new issuance runs from ~2010 to ~2140... the perfect 'window' to meter this transition and I believe that timing is incredibly prophetic.
From The Physics of Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Michio Kaku
(~ August 2008) https://mkaku.org/home/articles/the-physics-of-extraterrestrial-civilizations/
- "Currently, our energy output qualifies us for Type 0 status. We derive our energy not from harnessing global forces, but by burning dead plants (e.g. oil and coal). But already, we can see the seeds of a Type I civilization. We see the beginning of a planetary language (English), a planetary communication system (the Internet), a planetary economy (the forging of the European Union [this is 2008 remember!]), and even the beginnings of a planetary culture (via mass media, TV, rock music, and Hollywood films).
- This "Type 1 Economy" consists of "Huge Planetary Trading Blocs" for example today's EU, USMCA, and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) that compete with one another.
- [Michio in 2008] "Huge planetary trading blocks are the beginnings of a Type 1 economy."
- Our "Type 1 Language" is probably English.
- "Everywhere I go around the world I find that the elites, the elites all speak English as a second language." "...Everyone will speak their own native language but on top of that there will be a Type One language probably English."
- Our civilization's "Type 1 Culture" is Hollywood, action movies, and Blue Jeans.
- [From Michio Kaku] "You can go anywhere on the planet Earth... and show people pictures of two individuals that are instantly recognizable by any human... Madonna and Arnold Schwarzenegger." "Rock and roll, rap music, blue jeans... that's going to be the planetary culture of the planet Earth."
- and Earth's Type 1 "Communication System" is the Internet.
- [Michio in 2008:] "What is the Internet? The internet is the beginning of a Type 1 telephone system, that's all it is and so this transition is perhaps the most important transition of all time."
In the 2008 article above, regarding the detection of alien civilizations based on energy, Michio refers to the "Kardashev" scale which "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."
Wikipedia sums up the Kardashev Scale, an "energy scale" as "...a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is capable of harnessing and using. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964,[1] and was named after him."
- In other words the more energy a civilization is able to produce, conserve, and distribute efficiently, the more 'advanced' it is, the more "likely" it is to be detected over long distances, the more capable it is... and the more likely to survive given that it makes the transition from Type 0 to Type 1 without catastrophe.
From Michio's article, quoting a renowned astrophysicist:
“...Look how far we [Humans] have come in energy uses once we figured out how to manipulate energy, how to get fossil fuels really going, and how to create electrical power from hydropower, and so forth; we’ve come up in energy uses in a remarkable amount in just a couple of centuries compared to billions of years our planet has been here … and this same sort of thing may apply to other civilizations.”
Logically then, which new technologies are universal, highly in-demand, transformational, and facilitate the development of numerous new Energy sources?
And which new network acts as an energy distribution network uniting businesses, individuals, institutions, software, and stranded energy sources in order to Preserve and Distribute Capital?
As we transition to "Type 1" (over the next century) what is the most called CPU function exceeding all cumulative functions from every CPU ever made?
Building on Michio's comments from 2008 (Economy, Language, Culture & Communications) our "Type 1" technology stack I suggest is actually the following:
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Economy - in the form of Large Trading Blocs post-globalization
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Language - in the form of English especially among the educated multilingual
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Culture - Hollywood, Memes, Social Media, Blue Jeans... everybody know them
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Communications - The internet is our "Type 1" telephone system
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Intelligence - The culmination of Human knowledge and experience, summarized by powerful algorithms in the form of AI
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Capital - Bitcoin is our Civilization's Digital Capital Network, capable of storing and distributing 800 Exahash of energy across time and space.
In my opinion Bitcoin as digital capital has all the upsides of cash, with none of the downsides. Cash doesn't 'preserve wealth', it doesn't appreciate, and it's not a store of energy across time and space. Capital on the other hand:
- "Is typically cash or liquid assets being held or obtained for expenditures. In a broader sense, the term may be expanded to include all of a company’s assets that have monetary value, such as its equipment, real estate, and inventory. But when it comes to budgeting, capital is cash flow.
- "Capital can be a measurement of wealth and also a resource that provides for increasing wealth through direct investment or capital project investments. Individuals hold capital and capital assets as part of their net worth.
- "How individuals and companies finance their working capital and invest their obtained capital... is critical for their prosperity."
In other words, Capital is so much more than currency or cash alone, it's synonymous with 'cash flow' and competes with
- Gold
- Bonds
- Equities
- Real Estate and
- Art
Plus many currencies, damned near everything.
Capital is by definition utilized to cover expenses, pay employees, make investments, and improve profitability. Capital can include cash and currencies... but most actors choose capital over cash strictly because it goes the farthest the most successfully. The cash depreciates... Capital is multi-faceted and Bitcoin as Digital Capital as one of the 6 elements of our Type 1 Civilization...
- Economy
- Language
- Culture
- Communications (the Internet)
- Intelligence (in the form of AI) and
- Bitcoin (as Digital Capital)
is grossly undervalued.
Just as Kardashev ranked civilizations based on their energy consumption and ability to harness power, Bitcoin in my opinion excels at Capital Protection and Distribution as miners compete for the cheapest energy at the lowest cost. Therefore, Bitcoin mining is energy-globalization as the cheapest, most-abundant energy usually wins market-share and/or profitability.
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Profitability is protection and market-share is distribution (whether of Energy or Capital) and consequently Bitcoin is the Globalization of energy the
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Trading Blocs the Globalization of Economy.
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Culture the Globalization of Language and
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Intelligence, in the form of AI the Globalization of Digital Knowledge.
As the Bitcoin hashrate and network difficulty grows, the power behind each sat increases...
From my post #742954 in October '24:
- "It's logical that, in my opinion eventually, through the digitization of media and the revolution of AI, all of our lives will necessitate the management of energy through Cyberspace. Social media, messaging, email, text messages, website-verification, anti-DDoS, online interaction... all civilization is based on energy and the basic unit of friction and energy in Cyberspace is the sat."
"The basic unit of friction and energy in Cyberspace is the Sat..."
As the Power increases our Civilization grows closer to "Type 1" and Planetary Mastery.
What an Incredible Amount of Progress in only 17 years (2008 - 2025)
In summary, Michio Kaku in 2008 named 4 elements showcasing the "historic transition" from Type 0 to Type 1 our Civilization had started to embrace. I have added 2 more in the form of "Type 1 Capital" (Bitcoin) and "Type 1 Intelligence" (AI).
So in my opinion, what are the "6 Wonders" of the 21st and 22nd Century?
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The Type 1 Economy that Preserves and Distributes Goods and Services.
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The Type 1 Language (Probably English) that Preserves and Distributes our Linguistic History and Point of Reference.
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The Type 1 Culture - Hollywood, Memes, Social Media and Blue Jeans - which Preservers and Distributes our Behavior through Space and Time.
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Our Type 1 Communications Network The Internet which Preservers and Distributes our Knowledge.
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A Type 1 Intelligence (in the form of AI) that Preservers and Distributes Human Experience and Decision Making through Digital Channels.
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And Type 1 Capital in the form of Bitcoin. Bitcoin Preservers and Distributes Energy... acting as a Storage and Distribution Network for Digital Capital.