Look around
Lamp. House. City. Planet. Star. Galaxy. Then a pause: bigger is not better.
01One lamp
Where did that power come from?
02A city at night
What changes when many lives need power at once?
03Powering a planet
What if a civilization could use all the energy available on a planet?
04Who asked?
Why measure a civilization by the energy it can use?
05What is Type I?
If Type I is so large, does that make it better?
06What is Type II?
What if a civilization could use the energy of its star?
07A swarm around a star
How would you collect starlight without swallowing the star?
08What is Type III?
What if a civilization could use the energy of many stars?
09Not better, just bigger
What kind of civilization would we want to become?
10Waste heat
If a civilization uses huge amounts of energy, where does that energy go?
11How would we know?
If somebody built around a star, how would astronomers notice?
12Looking for technosignatures
What would count as a fingerprint of technology?
13Could we build this?
What can we build now?
14What kind of future?
What kind of civilization should we become?