5 ms·
It takes so much energy to create gravity waves and so much effort to detect them that it's silly to try to use them as a medium of communication.
by vecter 4y ago
It takes so much energy to create gravity waves and so much effort to detect them that it's silly to try to use them as a medium of communication.
- lowbloodsugar 4y ago*For Kardashev Type 1 civilizations like us. (And we’re only 0.74 not even 1)
- moloch-hai 4y agoWe are not even 0.01 Kardashev.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- nmeagent 4y ago~0.73 seems about right. 0.01 is about 1.26 MW. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equivalent%20to%20an%20average%20power%20consumption%20of%2018.87%20TW%20or%200.73 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equiva...
- moloch-hai 4y agoAccording to the linked page, K1 = 10^16 W = 10,000 TW. We are at ~20 TW = 0.002 K1. 0.01 K1 was a generous overestimate. Strictly speaking, K1 really should be 2e17 W, putting us at .0001 K1. (600 exajoules/y = 600,000,000 Tj/y, divided by 31.5M s/y = 19 TW. https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-primary-energy-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-pr... )
- nmeagent 4y agoIt's a logarithmic scale. The 0.73 value is not a linear scaling but a value given by Sagan's proposed interpolating/extrapolating function: K = (log10(P) - 6) / 10, where P is power in Watts. 20 TW = 2e13 W -> K = (log10(2e13) - 6) / 10 = ~(13.3 - 6) / 10 = ~0.73
- moloch-hai 4y agoThat is a very flattering way to formulate it.
- vecter 4y agoThat the Kardashev scale exists does not necessitate that any civilizations will ever reach Type II or III.