Barriers to Becoming a Kardashev Civilization 

Happy Anniversary Isaac! I only found your channel recently, but I love it. My brother was, frankly a genius, and we watched Sci fi and followed scientific developments together. He sadly passed in 2000, but I feel like I'm sitting next to him again when I watch your videos.

16:05 I might be a bit biased here, but as an ecologist I feel like the opposite solution is preferable, with Earth utilized as a nature preserve and more human cities and industry moving offworld into orbital habitats. Earth already has established ecosystems, and it seems like it would be easier to restore those than to create new ones whole cloth. Plus, I think there's a benefit in the continuity between deep past and present, which would be present on Earth but lacking in orbitals. This includes both the scientific (studying the history of life and how it operates within a planetary biosphere) as well as the aesthetic/cultural (such as finding a sense of wonder in the deep time history of an ecosystem, or people feeling as if Earth's nature is more "authentic" and orbital nature is more "artificial"). Naturally, I don't think they're mutually exclusive. You could certainly gain a lot of scientific and cultural benefits from creating nature preserves in the controlled, malleable conditions of an orbital. But I do hope that future civilizations of Earth do a better job of preserving its natural ecology than we have, for as long as our planet is habitable (and maybe longer, with the right astro/geoengineering hacks). Anyways, just my $0.02. Love your channel! Happy eight years!

Congrats on reaching 8 years. Thank you for providing quality mind-expanding content for nearly a decade!

Amongst the doom and gloom we see around us, we can always count on SFIA to provide optimism and education. Thank you for what you do.

We are our hardest barrier

Thank you for posting your videos they give me a stark reminder of the challenges of humanity. They also remind me how amazing humans have been up to this point. Growing up I was the most optimistic person. I’m more of a realist but you make it very easy to imagine a very realistic utopia

This stuff is like starting the day with squats and bench press but for my brain. Love it

8 years!!! Wow. Incredible work, Isaac. You’ve gotten so many people interested in furthering their scientific understanding of the world in which we live and have helped to make this world a better place by it. We appreciate all you do:)

I watched this video and found nothing helpful for how I could become a Kardashev 3 civilization. Not one workout tip, daily routine, or mindfulness exercise. What kind of self improvement is this?

You know... Something people usually don't address in sci-fi is the gravitational effects of megastructures, ship traffic, import & export of materials, etc. For example, you "bleed" the sun, extend its lifespan, and all of a sudden bye bye Jupiter. Or you mine a moon fast enough and all of a sudden its center of gravity shifts enough for it to wobble a bit before it re-rounds itself after many terrible moonquakes. Or... you get the idea.

Happy anniversary to the internet's king of futurism! Your productivity and consistency is really inspiring to me.

I've been watching these videos since 2017 and it's been my favorite part of every week. I want to commend the artists that do the artwork and videos for these videos. Amazing and beautiful job. The production value of these videos seems to increase every year and I find that amazing as well. Congratulations Isaac & Team!

This is a topic that should be discussed between all nations. Are we not yet ready to get this space opera stellar empire started?

In a K9 civilisation will their military's bark be worse than their bite.

Congratulations on the anniversary and thank you so much to the whole team for the outstanding content.

Happy Anniversary Isaac! I only started watching your videos about 6 months ago now. I really enjoy them. Thank you for all the work you put into these to educate and entertain us. And thank you for your service brother.

I really love this channel, I've been learning English from quite some time and Isaac's videos have helped me push my level further at relativistic speeds , I really hope we someday as a species reach that level of tech. Also wonder if we'd be still using the same means of communications or maybe we might have evolved technologically so much that information is just instantaneous and learning something is just part of the past. After all, mostly everything have changed a lot if we compare the early decades of the past century to the early decades of our current one. Almost unrecognizable.

This is maybe the most uplifting episode I have seen on your channel. Happy Anniversary! Its been a great ride watching your channel grow. Huh your one year older then I am cool. Cheers

Happy Anniversary Isaac! Glad you’ve been keeping your channel going and hope you tons of luck for the future in the future!

Always love coming here for the enlightened discussions! Love your work Sir Isaac!!

I continue to love the more positive view of the future, instead of the end of the world dread that so many seem to have in the part of the country that I live in. I am hoping to live long enough to see some more amazing things. Keep Your Dreams Alive; Stay Creative.

Happy anniversary! Still my favorite channel on the Tube all of these years later. Thanks for the consistent delivery of informative, thought provoking content that is entertaining.

The biggest barrier of entry is the belief that even if it were possible it would somehow not be moral.

Thank you for making so much great content. I found you during covid and binged everything - now I listen to your podcasts and videos while I work/walk.

Congrats on another awesome year! Here's hoping we're all still around to see a megawatt civ, and beyond!

Such an optimistic person. Team humanity.

Just wanted to thank you for all your amazing ideas and explanations. I recently started the honours course "how to design an alien" and your videos have really thought me how to approach these problems. So thank you. Also happy 8th anniversary!

I think at this point it's been 3 years? Of SFIA watching for me. I am absolutely floored with the growth of the channel both in quality and topics. You truly are a source of optimism and hope for the future a scratch an itch I didn't even know I needed scratched. I may not get to live on an OORT cloud size ringworld, but I am ever thankful that I know about them now. Enjoy your birthday, enjoy the anniversary, and keep being the creator we have all come to love

Happy anniversary, Isaac. Here's to another 500 years of your content!

I can't believe it's been 8 years already! Congratulations 🎉 You're one of my favorite channels, I've been watching you for three years now. Good luck

Thank you for years of amazing content Isaac! I listen to your videos while I am working, when I'm driving, when I'm at home, and when I'm sleeping. Pretty much all day and night 😅 Again, thank you so much for the content. I literally can not get enough of it. Keep em coming!!

Thank you for your outlandish, astounding and wonderful work! You've just opened my eyes and stimulated my brain way beyond anything I've ever imagined! Before your show, I always saw life as an experience with an expiration date, and that made me see life through grim and pessimistic lenses. Now, I look forward to the future, eager to be part of that progress, with optimism and burning desire! Happy anniversary, and I hope we stay together for decades to come. Thank you.

Thanks for a healthy dose of cosmic optimism. Eight years, and still fresh and brilliant! Congratulations!!

It's so awesome to see how you channel has grown and developed over the years. Great work man!

Mazaltov and congrats for both anniversary and birthday! Keep up the amazing work!

I still love your channel after all these years! It's a nice "get away" from my other subscriptions. Thanks bro!

Happy anniversary and happy Arthursday! I've only been watching the last couple of years but am enjoying it greatly

Congratulations Isaac on the 8th anniversary and well wishes for many many more to come🎉🎉 I remember subscribing all the way back in 2016 and I am still glad to have found your channel. ☺️😁

I really love your channel. I just wonder why there are so few ads in your videos. I am so much in love with them that I definitely don't mind an ad every like 8 or 10 minutes. And I think everyone else also agrees! This channel is always my number one on youtube!

Happy Anniversary !!! you deserve it , thanks

Wow time flies.i remember first finding and bingeing your content while on vacation a month before the channels second birthday and now it's up to 8th. thanks for the years of great content and here's to hoping to follow you for at least as many more in the future.

I love your videos! Although I don't always comment, they're all thought provoking and exceptionally informative. You've inspired many to love science and even some video ideas for myself 😅 keep going for 1M! Happy bday too!

Congrats Isaac your videos are so knowledgeable. My curiosity towards science and technology are filled by your videos

Happy Birthday, happy anniversary, and may there be many more of both!

Another great year! Well done Sir.

Been watching your phenomenal content for years now. It should be required material for any serious sci-fi enthusiast, with a strong appreciation for hard science. Oh, and happy birthday from an Irish fan, who appreciates the excellent work you do for us all.👍

Happy Birthday,Isaac,to you and SFIA! Think I've been on board since about 2018/17 or so,hitting 50 must have reawakened some of the curiosity and thirst for knowledge I had as a young kid...And thanks so much for all the literary recommendations:will definitely have to get started on Alistair Reynolds, read more Iain M Banks,and check out a few of the other people you've mentioned! Firstborn remains my favourite episode, one of your classics!

Happy anniversayyy wuhuuu!!! I watch your videos every night before bed!

happy anniversary and birthday brother, you've been a huge inspiration for me to start making my own content. big fan and friend you havent met yet!

“Keeping up With The Kardashevs.” It ain’t easy, folx.

Bravo on eight years, quite a remarkable accomplishment and well deserved. SFIA is phenomenal. And Happy 42nd!

You have fundamentally affected my perspective on futurism and humanity's development, Isaac! I've been watching you for over 5 years now, wow. I hope you too will be one of those alive today that will witness these wonderful times! Cheers!

I found you a few years ago. May we have many more to go! Nice work.

Your channel has reawakened my love for science and space.

Happy birthday to us both Isaac. thanks for all the videos and information you give us. i Hope you have a wonderful day.

I'm definitely in favor of garden parks and nature preserves in between urban arcologies with agriculture belts around them. Of course, we'll need to do lots of recycling and pollution clean-up to get to that stage, and any resource extraction will probably be off planet. But it will be an idyllic way to live, I expect. BTW, it would be cool to use "star lifting" technology to get materials from the Sun, and lower the Sun's classification into the K range, thus extending its life to about 30 billion years instead of 5-6 billion. That would put Venus into the Goldilocks zone, too, as well as giving us the resources for grand megastructures.

Eight Years!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 That’s a beautiful thing. Thanks Isaac.

Wait 8 years ive been subbed for 6 years, im truly thankful for your great content may it never end looking forward to seeing what you do for 10 years.

I love this channel. I started watching about 4 years ago as something to fall asleep to. (I know Linda odd 😅) But I have trouble reaching deep sleep so I find myself remembering a lot of the information. Isaac covers so many topics, isn't afraid to go very deep into complex topics, and he (and his wife ❤️) describe the info very well. Thank you Isaac for years of great content 👏

Great show. I really enjoy your publications.

Great video and happy birthday!

You are awesome Isaac. Keep doing what you do

Happy Birthday Arthur 🖖 42yo. was a great year for me too.

Love your channel. You talk about the most important thing there is.

Eight years of great content! Many respects from the UK 🙌

The Makarios Scale of Technological Development is a revision of the old Kardashev scale. Look at these: Type One: "Novice" (revised) intensive use of more than half of the planet's habitable surface area for urban dwelling, agricultural production, industry or resource extractive purposes. Oceans, ice caps and deserts are not typically considered habitable, although some oases may exist. Type Two: "Unstable" (revised) threatening the ecological health of the planet by careless practices, whether by stripping resources, excessive pollution, or loss of secondary species. Type Three: "Emergent" (revised) has acquired sufficient technology to make space flight and colonial ventures possible. Potential for mass self-destruction demands a quest for coexistence. Type Four: "Maximized" (original) Type One: intentional use of all the insolation received by the planet for food or power. (revised) has accessed or made feasible all of the resources and energy available on the planet. Approaching a sustainable global regime for shared resources and political consensus or a tolerant balance of powers. Type Five: "Outbreak" (revised) has established self-sufficient populations, with trade routes, in multiple extra-planetary colonies, and continuing to spread. Industrial development of free-floating habitats, space infrastructure and specialized project construction begins. Type Six: "Established" (revised) has explored the entire stellar system in sufficient detail to map a super-majority of its geography and resources. Technological proficiency allows pioneers to colonize the frontiers at will, and choose political independence. Type Seven: "Expansive" (original) Type Two: intentional use of all of the energy output of the star for habitation and industrial purposes. (revised) complete access to all of the resources and energy available within the star system, including its planets, moons, and smaller satellites. Experimental robotic ships explore the nearer neighboring star systems and the conditions of intermediate space. Type Eight: "Arrival" (revised) first colonies established around other star systems. Ultrahigh-energy physics experiments explore the potential for travel at relativistic or supra-lightspeed velocities. Type Nine: "Manifesto" (revised) seeding the stellar neighborhood with many colonial ventures, discovering the range of variety of system formation and geography, and revealing the frequency of the origins of life. Type Ten: "Epitome" (original) Type Three: acquisition and use of the entire energy output of all of the stars in the whole galaxy. (revised) technological capacity to range at will throughout the galaxy, planting colonies, developing resources and tapping unlimited energy as needed to sustain the presence and growth of the species in all its various iterations. Sophisticated modes of long distance travel and self-contained habitat ships allow for sporadic attempts to surpass galactic boundaries. Conclusion: As you can see, the original version of the Kardashev scale assessing the power use of a space-faring civilization was excessively over-simplified. Having only three tiers, it did not allow for any detail or description of the intermediate stages of development. At every stage, it required an "all or nothing" obvious achievement in order to advance to the next rung of the ladder, and totally lacked any descriptive or predictive powers. This revised version does have more capacity for descriptions, and also allows for a certain amount of flexibility. It can be used to note and measure some fractional attainments, and can accept some skipping and mixing of non-linear development patterns, while still offering some definite levels of meaningful achievement for comparisons.

Never figured my favorite SciFu guy would only be a few months older than me. I am also looking forward hitting 42. Congrats and keep up the interesting topics!

Yes! I actually have time to finish this episode before work!!!

I can't believe it's been nine years. I mean, I can believe it but wow that time has gone fast. Thank you Isaac and to all and everyone that has helped keep this channel going. It is a pure joy to give such discussions as Kardeshev Civilisations some serious analysis. PS: '42' is a great number so if you can find a co-operative Ameglian Major cow to eat, then enjoy a delightful dinner of shoulder braised in a white wine sauce. Of course, you'll have to find a Milliway's first.

everytime I watch your videos I can't help but think about the First Contact sci-fi story on the internet since so much of the topics you talk about or issues your bring that could be hurdles to things are just so perfectly woven into its story.

Love the program, keep it up!

Isaac, thanks man. At these times of existential threat, your eyes on the future possibilities are an aid to coping.

Isaac...I love your channel. Entertaining educational free entertainment. Keeping the advertisement commercials to a minimum. If I purchase some earbuds or a subscription to one of your sponsors I will definitely use your /promo code so you get credit. You have a soothing voice and you do a great job dumbing things down for an average Joe like me. I appreciate that I am clueless about your politics. Etc...blah blah. Keep doing what you're doing. Thank you for your service.

Happy belated 42nd birthday - I turned 42 a few weeks ago as well. The meaning of life has been revealed!

Happy Arthursday Friends! I am optimistic about where humans will end up. With people like Isaac teaching us, I think the limit is endless. Live long and prosper friends🖖🏻

Another fantastic episode. Subscriber for 5 years. Happy 8th channel anniversary and 42nd birthday! 2:30 - I think that was intended to look like a face? Maybe resemble 'the face of New Sidonia', perhaps? On Life Extension, Enhanced Fertility, population density/scattering and population growth: There are sociological considerations and ramifications when talking about changing how often and how long an intelligent species reproduces. Scarcity/abundance of resources and space affect people's ability, opportunities, and inclinations to produce and responsibly raise new members of the species and the civilization. I don't see any but the most decadently affluent individuals or family groups clamouring for their own habitable space structure. I once did a rough calculation for myself, and found that at the current population of America, there is enough land area in the continental U.S. for every single individual to have an acre to themselves, with nearly two-thirds remaining (for agriculture, industry, land preservation & conservation, & c.). Granted if life extension becomes a reality in this century then the demands of the human population on the ecosystem will grow, but with advances in other areas such as power grid engineering (we are already seeing this develop today), multifunction structures (i.e. Arcologies, great video BTW), and material handling and recycling, such constraints will likely be widened considerably ahead of population pressures. The main idea that I wanted to mention though is socialization. If family units become more spread out and isolated, the opportunities to interact with other family units on a day-to-day social level and become acquainted, friendly, and cooperative goes down precipitously. For this reason I do not think that fertility enhancement (except to aid those who want a natural, biological family and are told 'no' by some medical obstacle) will necessarily have a positive sociological impact. If people can wait for three, four, five decades or more to have children, and potentially become isolated, fearful, suspicious, and narcissistic, then they are much more likely to pass on these values and behaviors to their children, who will be more likely to do the same. This would result in some family units having not necessarly more kids, but around the same number, and later or more spread out across historical time. This may have its own advantages, but it would also throttle the populational growth rate. 'On the other hand' [as Tevya would say], people with an early, limited window to have a biological family may or may not do so, just as they do now. I'd like to believe that society and technology would incentivize the activity (as I believe it is both socially and morally healthy to raise a family before personal pursuits), but at the same time, there is the difficulty that in the 21st century - at least in the west - many younger people tend to value freedom, independence, and 'unattachment' to social and familial responsibility. There are different views on whether this is beneficial or detrimental; my own view is that there is a limited sociological window for authentic family attachment, before an individual becomes so preoccupied with their own interests and self-improvement, that family life ceases to appeal or 'call' to them, and so they contribute to future generations intellectually, aesthetically and/or socially, but not necessarily genetically and familially in terms of population. The last thing I will consider on this topic is the matter of polygenerational families, something that only occurs in Biblical accounts, and is not known by civilizations of the past or present. This is not something I feel completely free to speculate on, because it is a psychological and sociological unknown. But life extension to 100+ years, potentially to 200 years or more, makes this a definite possibility. I read one fantasy series that touched on this subject more deeply than Tolkien did with his Elves who lived for centuries, and the author (Christopher Paolini, the _Inheritance_ series) brought up two things about his own elven race: 1. They were careful to observe courtesy and protocol, regardless of their personal affectations toward other individuals 2. They were extraordinarily studied and subtle in their behavior and interactions; a single gesture could be part of a machination or stratagem spanning years or decades. These are, of course, the author's inventive inferences, and are not necessarily more valid than mine. I would like to think that life extension, particularly in the absence of a widened natural fertility window (for neither males nor females), would create incentive to become more mature and socially responsible more quickly, rather than the poet's line quoted by St. Paul "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." If anything, the tumult and upheaval of the last two decades has taught us that what we need to continue advancing in scale in maturity, not just technology, is more citizens - people of insight, foresight, courage, and responsibility - and less celebrity and political train wrecks.

Happy anniversary wonderful person. It is interesting that we will reach a Kardeshev Omega minus level sometime in the next century or two...well before we reach K type I

I have been a little pessimistic about evolution leaving much of any low-hanging longevity fruit to be picked in already long-lived species. So I was thinking we were going to need absolutely comprehensive repair of tissues at best, or at worst, a thorough understanding of metabolism, with all its eye-watering, despair-inducing complexity. But of late I'm thinking there probably really are some near-term, relatively simple measures that can be taken. First, *_we now know how to rejuvenate the thymus._* This is huge. A youthful immune system solves a lot of problems. Major clinical trials can't begin soon enough. Also, there is this idea, _antagonistic pleiotropy_ -- genes that increase your chances of reproductive success in early life, can have very negative effects in later life. Kin selection effects notwithstanding (e.g., the proposed grandmother effect, where longevity is selected for via grandmothers contributing to the reproductive success of their closely related grandchildren), evolution doesn't give a damn about post-reproductive periods, so genes that harm you in your old age are not much selected against, and in fact they can be selected _for._ So major progress may be made by simply silencing certain genes in later life. And our technology to accomplish that silencing has advanced extremely rapidly in the last 15 years. One especially exciting current effort at targeting multiple diseases of aging via gene therapies is Prof. George Church's _Rejuvenate Bio_ company. They will bootstrap to human clinical trials by developing treatments for dogs. Monied dog-lovers (among whom I count myself ... well, at least the dog-loving part) will spend big money to have healthy, energetic 17+-year-old dogs. And because dogs are much better analogs for humans than rodents are, in many ways, in terms of diseases of aging (dogs fail in old age in ways very similar to humans), funds from the pet business can go towards human clinical trials for the same, or very close to the same, gene therapies. It may be that these approaches only get us to people being healthy and vigorous up to about 115, then going downhill rapidly after that. But that's a _huge_ improvement -- and it may buy us all enough time to be around for the truly comprehensive rejuvenation technologies. Unfortunately I think we are going to have various longevity technologies (that actually work) for a couple decades before they are widely available, at least in the USA. The most important thing anyone can do is prepare to be in decent health 20 years from now.

Great videos. Really love the beautiful graphics and interesting information in your videos. Please keep up the excellent work. P.S Really looking forward to reaching level k1 in my lifetime !!! 👑👑👑👑

Happy anniversary dude

Literally just found you today. I have a feeling I’m in for a seriously wild ride! Cheers and thanks in advance!

Has it been that long? I probably missed your first few but saw the replay. Never had trouble with hearing you.

Great video. Really enjoyed this presentation. Please keep up the excellent work. I'm sure that you're get to level four in no time at all !!! 👽👽👽

Happy birthday Isaac!

LOVE this channel. Thank you Isaac for your incredible imagination and ideas.

Happy birthday Isaac! I know it’s not now, but it’s coming up

This channel is awesome, keep it up.

I cant believe it has already been 8 years. Still remember the day I found your channel and watch every single video you made down the list

The first rule of space combat is Patience, Patience, Patience! Sorry, I had to do it because I just love listening to your videos at work. Thank you and Happy Anniversary!

I come to these videos at his channel to give me that sense of hope that keeps me going. These are truly good for the soul and it gives me a extreme sense of FOMO

I propose a new scale where efficiency is the priority. The civilization starts by using a entire galaxy of energy and slowly reduces this to a 9v battery gathered from Hawking radiation. All the while maintaining the same level of complexity and population.

Love these channels! Thanks for the awesome & informative videos! 🔋🪫 ☀️ 🌎

Thanks Isaac, always appreciated.

Oh, wow. I can't believe it has been 8 years! I think I found you about six years ago and spent a long time trying to figure out where you were from because of your sexy accent. I think I finally decided you were Korean. haha It has been a genuine pleasure to watch this channel grow, and to see it become what it is. Take care, and keep living the dream! :)

Holy $h!t, I've been listening to you for 8 years?? Where has all the time gone? I think I subscribed when there were 10 or 12 episodes in total and I used to save SFIA for my overnight shifts at the data center. Happy anniversary SFIA!!!!

Isaac, thank you as always for giving me hope and motivation to stay healthy so I live to see this. This is the type of future I dream of, becoming post scarcity and protecting the natural and historic wonders of Earth in the process.

Happy Birthday IA

How could your lucky number *not* be 42 ? Happy Birthday, and Happy Anniversary. :-) Thanks for all the fish.

Kardashev's scale is predicated on consumption vs effective usage which is analogous to brute force hacking vs discrete coding IE appetite vs efficacy or base gluttony vs intelligent usage

can't watch anymore of your videos, my brain hurts... but I appreciate you. I just liked the video for the algorithm... keep up the good work