3 ms·

Your comments reminds me of the Kardashev scale for measuring an advanced civilization's level of technological advancement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardas

• bane 16y ago
  Yes! If one really ponders the mega structures required even for a fully realized Type I let alone a Type II civilization, the economics of such a civilization are probably far more telling than the total energy utilization in some senses. Dyson swarms don't launch themselves, thousands of individuals have to work to manufacture, launch and maintain each panel. And you can't do that if everybody is poor, living a subsistence life, scratching food from the land.
  • Unseelie 16y ago
    I'd argue that a properly designed dyson swarm -does- launch itself, is self replicating, and only takes construction of, say, fifty first generation Von-Neumann machines. I further suggest that we could start it if we spent an equivalent of the energy we put into the cold war.