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00:00The original Kardashev scale only ever went as far as Type 3, but over the years it's
00:06been added too, and many now view Type 5 as the absolute pinnacle.
00:11At this stage, an advanced enough being is imbued with all of the energy of the multiverse,
00:16with all the power of an infinite construct, along which this universe is just one tiny
00:22fiber.
00:23If humanity was to make it this far, then we probably wouldn't be all that human anymore.
00:29But what do you think will have arisen in our place?
00:35Type 5 is the pinnacle of the Kardashev scale, a system developed by astrophysicist Nikolai
00:40Kardashev to measure humanity's technological advancement based on how much potential energy
00:45it can harness.
00:47Originally there were only three levels, a Type 1 civilization which can harness all
00:51of its home planet's energy, a Type 2 which uses all of its own star's energy, and a
00:55Type 3 that can harness all of the energy in its home galaxy.
01:00Kardashev had imagined that this was the upper limit, but the scale has recently been added
01:03to.
01:04Now it's proposed that Type 4 civilizations can harness the entire universe's energy,
01:09and a Type 5, the type we're interested in today, is able to access all of the energy
01:13in all of the universes and timelines that ever have, do or will exist.
01:19Right now, we still reside somewhere in the Type 0 region, not even utilising our own
01:23planet Earth to its full potential to make it to Type 1, so we're nowhere near close
01:27to anything like Type 5.
01:29But assuming we don't annihilate ourselves or die off in some other way, it's feasible
01:33– perhaps even logical – to think that we'll continue advancing with each generation
01:38and in time, we'd soar up and complete the Kardashev scale.
01:41So, what would life be like if we did just that?
01:44Well, for starters, it would be almost unimaginable for us as we are now.
01:48Living a Type 5 existence would mean harnessing all the energy possible in the multiverse,
01:53which first and foremost means that we'd be at a time when the multiverse-many-worlds
01:57theory was not just a confirmed reality, but one that we'd have mastered.
02:01We'd be able to travel anywhere and everywhere, most likely via wormholes, not only within
02:05our own universe, but to any point in any possible universe.
02:10In this way, it's conceivable to think that such a civilization would have reached the
02:13acme of their technological prowess – the pinnacle at which everything that can exist,
02:18does exist.
02:19The energy output for such a scenario is impossible to predict, or even to fathom.
02:23However, it has been estimated that a Type 4 civilization would have an output of 10
02:28Quattoro Decillion, that's 10 to the power of 45, watts of power.
02:33So, given that Type 4 would achieve this with just one universe, we'd multiply that figure
02:38by the number of universes that feature in our Type 5 multiverse.
02:41And that's the incredible, almost unquantifiable estimate we're dealing with.
02:45For all intents and purposes, we'd have unlimited energy and boundless potential.
02:50What would that mean for our general state of mind?
02:53Well, a Type 5 civilization would have a complete understanding of every theory in existence.
02:58We'll have mastered every form of mathematics, we'll have perfected medicine, biology, astronomy,
03:03physics, and every other branch of science, and we'll have written all there is to write.
03:08As with our access to energy, our access to knowledge would be almost incomprehensible.
03:13Even highly skilled roles like research scientists and theoretical physicists would now be occupations
03:18of the past, as there'd be no more research needed in any field.
03:22Objective truth would be known throughout humanity, and the so-called Theory of Everything
03:25will have been identified.
03:27Humanity would be masters over the laws of nature, able to manipulate them as they please.
03:31We'd also know of and will have catalogued every lifeform ever to exist in any universe,
03:36past, present or future.
03:38There'd be nothing that we wouldn't understand.
03:41Religion, theology and even more general spirituality may well have died out at this point, too…
03:46or at least the broader inclination to have faith in anything will have passed.
03:50We'd now be able to prove or disprove the existence of a god quite easily by travelling
03:54to its dimension, if there is one.
03:56We wouldn't require faith because we genuinely would know, although this part does depend
04:01on your interpretation.
04:02Some would argue that God is inaccessible to humans no matter how advanced we become,
04:07so even under Type Five circumstances we'd still fall short of supreme power.
04:11There'd be no doubting our powers everywhere else, though.
04:14By the time humanity had even reached a Type Two level, we'd basically be invulnerable
04:18to destruction from nature.
04:20We could still obliterate ourselves by war, but natural disasters would no longer be a
04:24threat.
04:25Storms, earthquakes and volcanoes would all be manageable.
04:28Even asteroids would be little more than a passing nuisance, thanks to our development
04:32of various techniques for sidestepping them, including literally moving planets out of
04:36their path.
04:37Which means that by the time we transcend to Type Five status, the colossal dangers
04:41we encounter today, what some might call acts of God, would be only a very distant memory.
04:47Even better, though, for a Type Five civilization, even war would be a thing of the past, with
04:52fair and universal cohesion sweeping across existence.
04:55Part of the reason for no war could well be that the fundamental nature of our existence
04:59will have changed, as well.
05:01According to some projections, a Type Five civilization could actually wind up being
05:05a non-physical phenomenon.
05:06Say, in our genuinely infinite wisdom, we uncover or build a non-physical dimension
05:12where something akin to consciousness can reside.
05:14In the interests of ultimate efficiency, we could inhabit that, instead of this tangible
05:18world, to achieve an even higher level of existence.
05:22In so doing, we'd have effectively conquered ageing, all disease and even death, turning
05:27ourselves into adaptable, indestructible streams of data while still, in order not to sacrifice
05:32happiness, finding a way to remain content in our new selves.
05:36Anyone born into this age wouldn't have to fear death and could justifiably expect
05:40to live forever.
05:41We'd have long surpassed even the need for AI prosthetics or artificial organs, as even
05:45ultra-advanced robotics that now seem impossible will have become clunky, outdated and unreliable.
05:51Even if someone did somehow die, we'd probably be able to recreate them again.
05:55Or, they'd be able to manipulate the multiverse into erasing their death or reversing it.
06:00For a Type Five being, what we'd today consider superpowers would be simple, blink-of-the-eye
06:05tasks.
06:06Which highlights a philosophical question at the heart of this heady sci-fi trip…
06:10because if humanity was a Type Five civilization, then could it really still consider itself
06:14as humanity at all?
06:16How human could it ever really be?
06:18We'd have the ability to shape the world around us, to switch between universal planes,
06:23to live for as long as we'd like, and perhaps even to construct for ourselves a paradisal
06:27afterlife, if such a place was needed or wanted in a Type Five time.
06:32The entire multiverse would now be our playground and we would exist more like the gods we envision
06:36today.
06:37Finally, and perhaps crucially, with a complete understanding of all dimensions across multiple
06:42universes, we'd also almost inevitably be able to time travel.
06:45We could harness our power to visit every moment in history, leaving no mystery unsolved
06:50and no historical inaccuracy unchecked, collating for ourselves a complete and definitive record
06:55of our existence.
06:56In this way, we'd at least be able to revisit the various lower levels of our evolution
07:00– even all the way back to the days of humanity as we understand it now.
07:04So, though we will have likely changed beyond all recognition, every Type Five human would
07:09be able to instantly reconnect with the past.
07:12At which point, what would be the next step for us?
07:14Nothing, it seems.
07:16Right now, there's no established Type Six to aspire to.
07:19As far as we can contemplate, any being that exists in a Type Five civilization will have
07:24discovered everything there is to discover, and would know everything there is to know.
07:28Our most fundamental quests for wisdom, knowledge and truth will have hit a ceiling, and we
07:33might have nothing left to do.
07:35A good thing, perhaps… but maybe also our eventual downfall.
07:39The fabled Type Five existence is an incredibly far-off dream that may perhaps never materialise,
07:44but if it did, it'd mean we'd have effectively completed life – a considerable achievement,
07:49but one that'd leave us without purpose, wondering what to do next.
07:53Regardless, we will have climbed the Kardashev Scale to the very top.
07:56And that's what would happen if humanity was a Type Five civilization.
08:00What do you think?
08:01Is there anything we missed?
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