2250-2299 Contents

2250 - Humanity is becoming a Type 1 civilisation on the Kardashev scale

 

< 2200-2249 | 2250-2299 >

---

2250

Humanity is becoming a Type 1 civilisation on the Kardashev scale

By this date, practically all of the Earth's natural energy is being captured and harnessed in some way.*

Vast swathes of land, sea and atmosphere have been transformed into a series of enormous power grids using wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal technologies. These are supplemented by fusion and antimatter, along with wholly new forms of energy production that were unknown to scientists in previous centuries.

In space, a geodesic network of stations is now in orbit. This cluster is organised in such a way that it harvests every ounce of incoming solar radiation being reflected back into space. In terms of raw electrical power, the total converted energy is equivalent to over 52 petawatts (PW).* Each vessel acts as a node within a gigantic web, completely encircling the planet. The nodes produce attractive forces between each other, forming an invisible "shield" which absorbs solar radiation from literally the entire globe.

 

© Solarseven | Dreamstime.com

 

This technology has the added benefit of stabilising the Earth's climate, since the network can be adjusted at certain points to control the amount of heat getting through. These variations allow rain to fall whenever and wherever necessary, while hurricanes and other such phenomena are easily controlled.

The vast amount of energy now available to humanity is creating enormous wealth and prosperity. Earth's physical infrastructure is revolutionised - with teleporters available for civilian use, gargantuan skyscrapers reaching miles into the sky, and material needs practically eliminated.

However, even greater breakthroughs have been occurring in cyberspace, which has supplanted physical reality completely, for many people. Virtual worlds are now of such grandeur and ingenuity that they far surpass anything in the real world. These digital environments run at speeds considerably greater than real time - further accelerating the pace of innovation.

From this point onwards, the only way for civilisation to gain more energy is to expand outward into space.* Massive colonisation efforts are now underway. Asteroid mining dominates the economy of the inner solar system, while vast amounts of hydrogen and helium are being siphoned from the gas giants. Meanwhile, terraforming of Mars has passed a critical stage, with bacteria and lichen beginning to appear on the surface.

Interstellar travel increases greatly during this time. The settlements on Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star and Wolf 359 are inhabited by thousands of humans and machines by now, while the most distant exploratory craft have reached over 50 light years from Earth. Faster-than-light travel is proving to be more difficult to achieve than previously thought, however, with maximum velocity still limited to 0.99c.

 

 

 

> The 24th century