The Kardashev Energy Scale and the Future of The World
We’ve come a long way, but it’s only the beginning.
Nikolai Kardashev, already far above average in intelligence for his age, sat on his cot in the Soviet People’s Orphanage and wondered about life on other planets. At the age of five, his father had been executed, and his mother imprisoned during Stalin’s 1937 purge of all former heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Although Nikolai was dumped into a bleak orphanage, his mind soared into the cosmos.
For the rest of his days, the subject of extra-terrestrial beings was a ruling passion. As soon as he was able, he enrolled in the Astronomy Division of the Mechanics and Mathematics Department at Moscow State University. With his degree in Radio Astronomy in hand, he joined the Space Research Institute and, after the dissolution of the USSR, rose to become the director of the Astro Space Center.
Nikolai’s profound interest in communicating with intelligent life on other planets led to his 1964 paper that received worldwide attention and introduced what came to be known as the Kardashev Scale.
The Kardashev scale measures a civilization’s level of technological sophistication based on the advanced state of its ability to harness and use energy.
