The Kardashev Scale
What is the Kardashev scale? The scale was originally designed in 1964 by the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev. He was looking for signs of extraterrestrial life within cosmic signals. The Kardashev scale has 3 base classes, each with an energy disposal level: Type I (10¹⁶W), Type II (10²⁶W), and Type III (10³⁶W). Other astronomers have […]
Space Warfare
This episode focuses on the basic concepts and misconceptions of wars fought in space and examines the notions of weapons, defenses, stealth in space, and the distance involved. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Life Extension
In this episode Isaac explores technological challenges and solutions for extending the human life span and contemplate some of the challenges an extended lifespan might pose for our civilisation. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Post Scarcity Civilisations
Post Scarcity Civilisations If resources were unlimited, everything would be free. Cars would be free just as gumballs would be free. And because everything is free, then NOTHING would have value. There would be no prices. Just “stuff.” What Is A Post Scarcity Society? “Post Scarcity” is basically a utopian ideal of economists. It means […]
Interstellar Empires
The concept of Interstellar Empires has fascinated us for as long as we’ve know those stars in the night sky were other solar systems, and it’s become a staple of science fiction. But rarely do we consider how realistic such galaxy-spanning confederations are, and what special challenges they’d face. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Technological Singularity
What is Technological Singularity? The idea that human history is approaching a “singularity”—that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both—has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop […]
Interstellar Highways
This episode discusses the idea over using chains of relays firing immensely powerful lasers or streams of particles to move spaceships between neighbouring stars at near-light velocities. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Megastructures: Shellworlds
Today we take a look at Artificial Planets constructed as Shells around a filler mass, such as a black hole. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Ecumenopolises
The word Ecumenopolis was invented in 1967 by the Greek city planner Constantinos Doxiadis to represent the idea that in the future urban areas and megalopolises would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous worldwide city as a progression from the current urbanisation, population growth, transport and human networks. This concept was already […]
Matrioshka Brains
What Are Matrioshka Brains? A Matrioshka Brain is a hypothetical megastructure, based on the Dyson sphere, of immense computational capacity. It is an example of a Class B stellar engine, employing the entire energy output of a star to drive computer systems. Such a structure would be composed of a collection of one or more […]