Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit: Difference between revisions

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 ==  Solid Type I: Clearly more than a single planet's energy budget, but less than a star's.  ==
+=== Anime and Manga ===
-* The [[Mnogo Nukes|Tsar Bomba]], the most powerful device ever built by humanity, achieved about 5.3×10<sup>24</sup>W, near the top of this category.
+* The Zentradi of ''[[Macross]]'' are the slowly decaying remnants of [[Precursors|an ancient (perhaps Type II) civilization]]. At the time the series takes place, they are probably mid-to-high Type I. In the course of the various series and movies they become progressively assimilated by humanity, which is itself an upwardly mobile Type I.
-* The human civilization in ''[[Freelancer]]'', a system-spanning bunch of colonies with lots of stars and planets at their disposal. They also have Jump Gates that interconnect their systems by carving holes through spacetime. Space travel is fairly cheap and common.
+=== Film ===
+* The Krell, the (extinct) inhabitants of the ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''. They left behind a facility of enormous power (described as 9,600 thermonuclear generators occupying 33,000 cubic kilometers), and "harnessing the power of an exploding star"<ref>though that was very likely hyperbole given that an exploding star uses far more energy than the mass-energy of a terrestrial planet</ref> though the purpose was initially unknown. It doesn't display a whole lot of power in the movie, but estimating a reasonable power density for the generators would put the Krell in this range.
+=== Literature ===
+* Delphons were an alien race in ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' series of novels by the Russian science fiction writer Andrey Livadny. They had a civilization spanning several star systems, and were likely here.
+* The Consu, the most advanced race in the ''[[Old Man's War]]'' series, are explicitly described as "having a white dwarf yoked to the wheel" (a Dyson sphere). While Dyson Spheres are normally the territory of Type II and up, white dwarves typically radiate much less power than the Sun, putting the Consu here unless they possess an unusually bright dwarf.
+=== Live-Action TV ===
 * The United Federation of Planets of ''[[Star Trek]]'' is composed of a whole group of Type I-ish civilizations banded together for truth, justice, and <s>the American Way</s> interesting plotlines.
 ** In one episode, the power output of the ''Enterprise-D'' is given at "12.75 billion gigawatts", which is the same power output of an entire Type 1.3 civilization. So either the ''Enterprise-D'' alone uses an appreciable fraction of the Federation's resources, the Federation is well into Type 2 territory, or [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|the writers just picked a really big number that sounded impressive]].
 ** For comparison, a Nimitz-class carrier's output is about .001% the total global output, and a Saturn V's was about 3%. So, assuming a similar ratio between the Galaxy-class and the Federation, the whole civilization would be between 4×10<sup>20</sup> and 1×10<sup>24</sup>W, solidly in Type I territory. This seems to be in line with the widespread use of fusion and bulk antimatter for power.
 ** The Borg Collective probably weighs in as a pretty hefty Type I, with galaxy spanning communications networks, massive fleets, extensive space installations, hundreds of civilizations assimilated, and a fairly decent ability to beat up other Type Is.
-* The Zentradi of ''[[Macross]]'' are the slowly decaying remnants of [[Precursors|an ancient (perhaps Type II) civilization]]. At the time the series takes place, they are probably mid-to-high Type I. In the course of the various series and movies they become progressively assimilated by humanity, which is itself an upwardly mobile Type I.
 * The ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' Asgard and their enemies the Replicators are tough to call. They are among the most powerful active civilizations (if the Replicators can really be called that) in the setting, but they don't do a whole lot of big, Kardashev-Scale-bumping stuff on screen, and the actual power use of their tech is largely not shown. Still, they're active on a scale that would suggest something in this category.
+=== Tabletop Games ===
-* Delphons were an alien race in ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' series of novels by the Russian science fiction writer Andrey Livadny. They had a civilization spanning several star systems, and were likely here.
-* The Krell, the (extinct) inhabitants of the ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''. They left behind a facility of enormous power (described as 9,600 thermonuclear generators occupying 33,000 cubic kilometers), and "harnessing the power of an exploding star"<ref>though that was very likely hyperbole given that an exploding star uses far more energy than the mass-energy of a terrestrial planet</ref> though the purpose was initially unknown. It doesn't display a whole lot of power in the movie, but estimating a reasonable power density for the generators would put the Krell in this range.
-* The Consu, the most advanced race in the ''[[Old Man's War]]'' series, are explicitly described as "having a white dwarf yoked to the wheel" (a Dyson sphere). While Dyson Spheres are normally the territory of Type II and up, white dwarves typically radiate much less power than the Sun, putting the Consu here unless they possess an unusually bright dwarf.
 * The Tau, Orks, and non-Imperium human factions of [[Warhammer 40,000]] are probably here. Compare with the Imperium, probably a borderline Type II, the Eldar, a clear Type II, and the Tyranids and Necrons in Other.
 ** The Tau have probably the smallest civilization of the playable factions, but fairly dense development.
 ** The Orks are extremely widespread, but they don't care much for the large industry needed to climb the Kardashev Scale. Hence, their most populous worlds don't remotely approach a Type I level of development, and they only make it here due to occupying so many.
 ** The non-Imperium human factions have somewhat similar technology and infrastructure, but typically operate on smaller scales than the Imperium, probably putting them here.
+=== Video Games ===
-* The Terrans of Starcraft have Fairly rapid travel within their pocket of the galaxy and have colonised a significant portion of it, although the bulk of their tech seems to be borderline Type I at best. Mind you, the game only deals with one millionth of the humanity, the rest is quite open to [[WMG]].
+* The human civilization in ''[[Freelancer]]'', a system-spanning bunch of colonies with lots of stars and planets at their disposal. They also have Jump Gates that interconnect their systems by carving holes through spacetime. Space travel is fairly cheap and common.
+* The Terrans of ''[[Starcraft]]'' have Fairly rapid travel within their pocket of the galaxy and have colonised a significant portion of it, although the bulk of their tech seems to be borderline Type I at best. Mind you, the game only deals with one millionth of the humanity, the rest is quite open to [[WMG]].
+=== Real Life ===
+* The [[Mnogo Nukes|Tsar Bomba]], the most powerful device ever built by humanity, achieved about 5.3×10<sup>24</sup>W, near the top of this category.
 ==  Borderline Type II: Power use roughly equivalent to a G type star's radiant output. 1E26W  ==