Exploring the Limits of Intelligence, Energy, and Cosmic Power"
People from the early 1950s were deeply fascinated and interested in the search for extraterrestrial life. During this period, many questions arose about the presence of alien life—one key question was, if we encounter alien life, what possible damage or benefit could it bring us?
We must understand how advanced an alien civilisation might be in answering this. To categorise civilisations, we developed two major scales:
Information Mastery Scale
Microdimensional Mastery Scale
1. Information Mastery Scale
This scale says there are 26 types of civilisations, each named after a letter from A to Z, depending on how much information they control. It starts from 10⁶ bits (1 MB) for a type ‘A’ civilisation and goes all the way up to 10³¹ bits (10²⁴ MB). But honestly, this scale. It should be updated now because of our current discoveries and the knowledge we have about the universe, since the total information in the observable universe is around ~10⁸⁰ bits.
This whole thing is based on how much information can be handled. As you progress through the alphabet, the amount of information used increases by 1 in the exponent. So, the last type of civilisation, ‘Z’, basically has access to all the data/information in the visible universe. They can manipulate the whole universe, like creating or destroying stars, galaxies, or even entire universes.
2) Micro Dimension mastery scale:
The Micro Dimensional Mastery Scale was proposed by John Barrow, an English cosmologist and theoretical physicist. This scale is based on how many small things a civilisation can control. If we observe the progress of any civilisation, we can see that it gains knowledge about the smallest elements in the universe as it becomes more advanced.
For instance, early civilisations on Earth could only manipulate objects that were visible to the human eye. But as our technology advanced, we started controlling even smaller particles. Now, we can manipulate atoms and create many wonders from them. So just imagine — if we were able to control the space-time fabric itself, we could do unimaginable things. With this idea in mind, let’s understand how this scale works.
The scale begins with Type 1-minus, where a civilisation can only exert control over visible objects. The smallest thing visible to the naked eye is around 0.1 millimetre — roughly the diameter of human hair. As we move up the scale toward the most advanced level, we reach Type Omega-minus. Type Omega-minus is so advanced that it can control the space-time fabric itself. Controlling the space-time fabric can lead to things like:
Advanced Propulsion and Faster-Than-Light Travel
Creation and Stabilisation of Wormholes
Manipulation of Time
Gravitational Field Control and Energy Extraction
Revolutionary Computing and Communication
What is the problem with these scales?
These scales tell how advanced a civilisation is, but the real problem with these scales is plotting a civilisation on these scales and comparing them. Let's understand this case by studying our civilisation. These are the results after plotting our civilisation on a scale.
After plotting the data, we can see that we humans lie on P in the information mastery scale in the present (2025) time, which is a considerably pretty advanced civilisation. On the Micro Dimensional Mastery scale, we are classified as type 5-minus, which is significantly lower than type omega-minus. To counter this problem, we need a universal scale on which we can properly compare every civilisation.
In 1964, Nikolai Kardashev observed some similarities between these two scales. One of the important observations was that both scales are based on energy consumption. If you want to access more data or control smaller things, you need energy. The more work done, the more energy will be required. So, he proposed a scale in 1964 based on energy consumption. This scale was logical, and now it's a reasonable way to plot civilisations and understand how advanced they are.
This scale is known as the Kardashev scale. He categorised civilisations into three types. ‘Type 1’, ‘Type 2’, and ‘Type 3’ are categorised based on the amount of energy each type is capable of harnessing and utilising. Later on, this scale was advanced by Carl Sagan. He added a decimal expansion to this scale to measure civilisation properly, and physicists like Michio Kaku extended it.
Now we are going to explore this scale by including examples from Marvel Comics and the cinematic universe.
TYPE 1:-
A Type 1 civilisation is a planetary civilisation—one that harnesses the full energy of its home planet. It can use all the available resources on its planet. Currently, we are around Type 0.7, which means we haven’t yet achieved full control over our planet’s energy. It will likely take another 200 to 300 years for us to reach Type 1.
An example of a Type 1 civilisation is Xandar, as shown in Guardians of the Galaxy. The planet runs on advanced energy sources that are clean and non-polluting. They have a They They have developed a planetary-level defence system and have a complete understanding of their world, which allows them to monitor everything with ease.
This stage also comes with some threats. Xandarians are careful with their technology, ensuring it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. In these early stages of development, a civilisation must be very cautious about its growth and the technologies it builds.
Type 2:
These civilisations are also called stellar civilisations. A Type-2 civilisation can harness the full energy output of its home star. That’s why it’s called a stellar civilisation—it collects and uses all the radiation released by its sun to meet its energy needs. This phase is the stage where massive structures like Dyson spheres or Dyson swarms might be developed, designed to capture all the energy from a star.
The real challenge for such civilisations is their resources. Building these megastructures would require an enormous amount of material. According to scientist Stuart Armstrong, to extract the sun’s full energy using such structures, we would need materials equal in mass to Jupiter, about the mass of 318 times the mass of Earth. Mining other planets or asteroids may waste more energy than we gain. Another concern is that any damage to even a single part of the structure could lead to significant issues.
If a civilisation managed to extract the full power of the sun using any method, it would be approximately 384.6 yottawatts. For comparison, the Sun produces about 20 trillion times more energy than Earth currently uses, which is about 19 terawatts (TW). Reaching Type 2 means a civilisation can colonise an entire solar system—they could colonise planets against solar flares and winds, and they could even protect their systems from interstellar dust or other major threats.
A wonderful example of this type of culture is the Shi’ar Empire. They are shown to be highly advanced, capable of interplanetary travel, and ruling over many worlds within a single galaxy, controlling thousands of star systems. However, it's important to note that they don’t govern multiple realities; multiversal rulers in Marvel are usually cosmic beings, not civilisations like the Shi’ar.
Type 3:-
Civilisations at this level are called galactic civilisations. They can harness the complete energy of their host galaxy. At this level, they can capture energy from black holes, stars and every other celestial object. At this point, civilisation begins to dominate the entire galaxy and exerts control over every solar system within it. Civilisation will be so technologically advanced that it can control galactic disasters like gamma-ray bursts, Supernova explosions, collisions of two galaxies, etc.
To travel between galaxies, these civilisations can use any shortcut, such as wormholes and others. Which will enable us to travel light years in just a few seconds, like the spaceship of Captain Marvel and the guardians of We can expect a profound understanding of the laws of the universe and some ability to manipulate reality and time, but we are still unable to fully master these aspects.
An example of this civilisation is the Phalanx. This is a galactic-scale artificial intelligence that controls an entire galaxy, primarily driven by its desire to expand its intelligence and control the means of doing so. Type 3 will have a profound understanding of the laws of physics, but they might lack the ability to manipulate all kinds of matter. Some tasks, such as studying dark matter, will still need to be addressed by them.
Kardashev only proposed until here, but other scientists continued to make theories and proposed 4 more levels to this scale, but these are highly hypothetical and theoretical and are not part of the traditional scale introduced by Kardashev.
We call a Type 4 Kardashev civilisation a universal-level civilisation because it fully harnesses the energy of its entire universe. They can manipulate all matter and control the whole universe. We can expect that civilisations at that level may have mastered concepts like interdimensional travel, parallel universes, alternate realities, and more. To get an idea of their power, we can compare them to cosmic entities like Galactus.
Such a civilisation would be so advanced that it could break the spacetime fabric and use the entire energy of the universe. The defining feature of a Type 4 civilisation is its ability to harness and manipulate energy, time, and reality on a universal scale—meaning they wo, ld have complete control over the fundamental forces of the universe.
For example, in Marvel, we have the Progenitors. The Progenitors are an ultra-advanced species capable of reshaping entire universes through genetic engineering and cosmic manipulation. A Type-4 civilisation might fully control quantum fields, enabling instant teleportation, matter transformations, and even rewriting physics on a universal scale.
Type 5:-
These types of civilisations are also known as multiverse civilisations. They have proper knowledge and control over the existence of different universes, realities, dimensions, and timelines. They understand and manipulate the laws of physics not just in their universe but in other universes as well—each potentially with different physical constants.
They are capable of creating universes, forming new dimensions, altering timelines, or simulating realities on any scale. An example of a Type 5 civilisation could be celestial-level civilisations. Here, Celestials are more to be said as god-like entities, but their power levels are equal to type 5. It is a vast intergalactic empire that rules over a million worlds and is aggressively expansionist. The comics suggest that the celestials spread over many universes, demonstrating their immense control over them.
Type 6:-
In essence, a Type VI civilisation goes one step beyond a Type V by having unlimited influence across all dimensions and realities, not just the ones within a single multiverse. A Type V might manipulate the boundaries and contents of several universes, but a Type VI can influence everything that could exist, including realities outside the conventional multiverse.
The best possible example of this is Beyonders, or Grand Zeno (Dragon Balls)-level civilisations, who can manipulate everything. It can exist beyond any reality or time or space or dimension. Nothing in the universe binds them. Their power level is so superior that they created an entire multiverse, teleported all the main characters to it and exhibited a fight among them.
Nothing is impossible for these civilisations; they can create and use anything, as per their will. We can also refer to them as gods. It is also thought that we might also be a part of sets of universes created as experiments by these level beings, and at all times they are observing us and because of their superiority, they can hide from us, and we, in search of aliens, will never be able to find them in our present situation.
At all, as we discussed, it is not bonded to a dimension or reality. Our 3D body will be destroyed, and it will be a sort of eternal being. These events will lead to a situation where you will be left with nothing to achieve more.
Type 7:
Type 7 can be described as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. It’s more likely an individual force than a civilisation. Many scientists consider it impossible for any civilisation to reach this level, but others argue that consciousness could evolve into a force. All universes, all multiverses, all realities, and all dimensions exist within Type 7.
The One Above All is the ultimate individual entity. Everything is contained within it. In Marvel, this character is introduced as the supreme being who oversees all events in the Marvel universe and can monitor everything happening across different multiverses and realities at once.
Here, scientists introduced an interesting type of civilisation, which is technically not possible.
Type 0:-
A Type 0 civilisation is a simple concept introduced to describe societies that have not yet achieved the capability to harness and control all the energy resources available on their home planet.
We are an example of a Type 0 civilisation. People often question the classification of Earth as 0.7 in Carl Sagan's decimal system. But if we classify civilisation using the traditional whole number scale, we would be considered Type 0. We are still not able to completely harness the energy of our planet.
Conclusion:
Given our current situation, it will take us billions or trillions of years, or possibly even longer, to achieve a type 6 civilisation. We should see that this kind of advancement is exponential, and we are currently at 0.72. To reach 0.73, we need to consume more than 24% energy. So, at this level, it will take a long time to reach our target. This diagram shows how this universe works.
The main purpose of this scale is to calculate where we stand in terms of advancement and how advanced other civilisations can be when compared on a universal scale, which is common to every civilisation classification.
Thank you
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