What If Humanity Was a Level Z Civilization?

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What If Humanity Was A Level Z Civilization?</h4>

Since our species' beginning, humanity has wondered how we fit into the cosmos. We’ve always questioned where the future will take us, what technology and wisdom we will obtain, and at what point will these advances reach their peak. One method of measuring technological prowess comes from Carl Sagan, who called the highest possible state of civilization “Level Z”. So, just how different would Earth be if we managed to achieve Z living?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what if humanity was a level Z civilization? 

To understand what any prediction for the future means, we should first look at where we stand today. The general concept of a civilization level largely comes from the Kardashev Scale, originally designed by Nikolai Kardashev, a Soviet astronomer in 1964. It divides civilizations specifically based on their ability to harness and use energy. There are three primary categories they can be sorted into. First, a Type I civilization, the lowest on the chain, can control the energy of its entire planet. On Earth, it requires complete access to all of the energy that reaches us from the Sun. Once humanity can access 100% of this, we will be considered a Type I civilization. In theory, one of the more dramatic applications at this stage is that we should be able to manipulate natural events, as well, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. We’re not quite there yet… but experts (most notably the futurist Michio Kaku) predict it could take about another 200 years for this to be a reality. And, actually, Carl Sagan made a telling contribution to the Kardashev model, too. It was he who proposed intermediate values for the Kardashev system, and he calculated that humanity right now is around a Type 0.7 civilization. So, after almost 10,000 years of modern human civilization, that’s where we’ve gotten to.

Next up on Kardashev’s ladder is Type II. Type II groups are capable of commanding the energy of their entire home star. That is, not just the fraction that makes it to their planet, but the total energy of the entire star itself. From our perspective, this would require technology centuries more advanced than what we currently possess - with the Dyson sphere being something of a poster child for Type II greatness. It’s a hypothetical megastructure that completely surrounds a star, capturing all the energy it produces. Nothing is lost, everything is caught, and everything is efficiently redirected and used. 

Clearly, humankind is a long, long, way away from being able to produce such a contraption. To us, they’re craftable in theory… but are completely impossible for human engineering to actually build. Fascinatingly, though, we are in the business of trying to find Dyson Spheres, in the modern day. Astronomers believe that if any Type II civilizations do exist, then we should be able to observe their spheres with advanced enough telescopes. And, excitingly, at the time of writing, the search for megastructures has found a handful of candidates. Further analysis is required to confirm precisely what these somethings are, and many believe that any anomalies we may have spotted will ultimately be explained away as perfectly natural, non-artificial phenomena… but certainly watch this space. 

Finally, a Kardashev Type III civilization can harness an entire galaxy’s worth of energy. It’s a major step up from a Type II, and an inconceivably huge upgrade on Type I. There are thought to be roughly 100 million stars in a galaxy on average, and a Type III controls them all. If one were present in the Milky Way, then we’d surely know all about them. They’d effectively govern and permeate everything about us, our world, and all of our cosmic landscapes. To human minds, a Type II would be akin to a god.

Beyond this lies speculation - Type IV, Type V, and beyond. The parameters get increasingly epic and invariably muddied, but as you travel higher and higher up the Kardashev Scale you’re imagining universe-level civilizations, and then multiverse level, and then higher dimensions, and then even higher dimensions, and so on. To them, the entire cosmos, no matter how huge you dream it, is but a field to harvest.

So, how does Carl Sagan come into it? And what is type “z” all about? Well, although the Kardashev scale is undoubtedly the most popular way to measure technological advancement, it’s far from the only way. And another (arguably more fascinating and dynamic) theory was proposed by Sagan during his career. It’s named the Information Mastery Scale, and instead of measuring advancement via energy harnessed (as per Kardashev) it focuses on how much information the species (or civilization) possesses. And, instead of numbers, it uses the Latin alphabet as markers, where A is the bottom of the chain and Z is the top. 

Sagan defined the letter A as representing one million unique bits of information, or approximately one megabyte of data. Each letter represents an extra ten times the quantity of information. So B would be ten million bits, C would be one hundred million bits, and so on. Eventually, Level Z possesses ten to the power of 31 bits. That’s a number with 31 zeros in it before the decimal place! 

We might think of Sagan’s system as being an extension of the Kardashev scale, but where it most differs is that it introduces a much more nuanced journey through the different civilization types, including a high number of intermediate levels. Sagan had reportedly been left dissatisfied with how large the gaps were in Kardashev’s proposal, so he developed the more gradual model to smooth out the issues. And, in many ways, it does better reflect how in reality a civilization will never jump straight from Type I to Type II. There are countless developments (and vast stretches of time) between them. 

Sagan published a paper explaining the mathematics of his logarithmic scale, going up in powers of ten, in 1973. The “A to Z” styling actually wasn’t proposed (or wasn’t only proposed) by him, but it made sense and was easily better suited to the much more granular approach. The scale considers far more than just energy, as well. It’s flexible enough to take into account other additional, crucial elements of civilization growth, such as intelligence, mastery over dimensions, and existential purpose. At some point, pretty much all of everything can be reduced down into plain bits of information. 

So, what do Sagan’s levels actually look like? The lowest, Type A would simply be basic biological organisms, without any developed technology. Early humanoid species would be Type B, complete with simple tools, basic writing, and the ability to harness fire. Type C are early urban societies, such as the first Mesopotamians in ancient Sumeria. Early Greek civilizations fit into Type D, then later more advanced ones into Type E, determined by the philosophical ideals of their society at that time. Type F involves worldwide agricultural mastery, and Type G is an industrial society, able to build steam trains, steamboats, etc. Type H is where humanity currently lies, being able to fly through the skies and travel to our planet’s natural satellites. After this, they become incrementally more advanced in a similar fashion, until eventually reaching Type Z. 

At around Type S, our modern human minds begin to tap out. S through to Z civilizations are all so extremely advanced (and increasingly so) that much of what they should be able to do is beyond human comprehension. For example, at Type X, a civilization would theoretically have conquered about 50 billion light-years of the universe, which is roughly half of the entire known cosmos. Type Y uses laws of physics which we don’t understand at all right now, having access to the fastest computers imaginable. But, Type Z… nothing beats it.

Type Z would have absolute control over the entire universe. It would be far, far superior to even the Xs and the Ys that came before them. To little old us still dwindling down here at Type H, a Type Z would probably dwarf even what we imagine our mightiest gods to be capable of. They could freely manipulate reality as they choose, and nothing would be unknown to them. They could create and destroy, travel anywhere, see anything, feel everything. The total universe is a playground in the palm of their hand. 

As such, if humanity were a Type Z entity, then we wouldn’t be recognisably human anymore. We will have transcended beyond our biological, physical forms completely. We’ll have moved through the ages of cybernetics, bio-enhancements, and artificial intelligence… and we’ll likely have far surpassed them all. Our consciousness could have an all new shape; the quantum world would be just as known to us; not even the insides of black holes would hold secrets. Perhaps, at this stage, we’d be pure energy; maybe we’d possess a hive mind. But whatever it is that we’re doing, there would be nothing more for us to do afterwards. Unless, that is, Sagan’s scale could also be more speculatively extended, much as the Kardashev Scale has been in recent years. With the multiverse to contend with in the cosmological background, it’s always a possibility!

Nevertheless, what would being at such an advanced stage mean for morality, ethics, and responsibility? Would a Type Z be benevolent, malevolent, or indifferent? Would it seek to guide lesser civilizations, ruin them… or would it just not notice them at all? What goals would such a species have? With the complete mastery of reality, the pursuit of knowledge would be at an end. So, what next? What could drive such a civilization? 

For now, it’s a future that’s wholly beyond our reach. If a Type Z ever did emerge, then we and Earth will be a distant, infinitesimally insignificant memory to it. And yet, there is cause to wonder. Because that unparalleled ability to create could well be the most profound aspect of all, on this highest of levels. If humanity were a Z, then we might well become the ultimate creators of new life… and that life would then inescapably live in a reality of our own making. Which is a bit of a mind bender, because who’s to say that that’s not what’s already happening? It’s just that, right now, we’re the created, rather than the creator.