Vortex

Part 01
Jan 2019

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 2 Vortex

03
As i mov ’ s 2 0 19
pre di c ti ons

04
H u man 2 .0

07
Te h no lo g i cal
Si ng u lari ty

Contents 08
The future of space colo-
nization – terraforming
or space habitats?

12
T he Kardas h ev Scale

23
C i rc u lar C i ti e s

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 vortex 3

Asimov’s
2019
predictions
Back in 1983, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was asked to predict how the
world would look in 2019.

Isaac Asimov His thoughts, written originally for the Toronto Star newspaper, can now be com-
writer pared against reality. Many have proved surprisingly accurate. He foresaw the rise of
computers, saying the complexity of society would make them “impossible to do with-
out”, disrupting work and penetrating the home.
“To think that computers would take over the world was remarkably insightful at
that time,” thinks Calum Chase, who writes both fiction and non-fiction books on the
subject of artificial intelligence.
“Most bosses did not use computers in the 80s. It was their secretaries who had
them and they would print out emails for the bosses to read. The internet was around
but not many people knew about it.”
Asimov also predicted that robotics would revolutionise the way we work, with au-
tomation stealing clerical and factory jobs, forcing people to reconsider new careers or
even living “a life rich in leisure”.
In the world of education, he predicted that children would no longer need teachers,
other than to “inspire curiosity”, learning everything they needed to know from comput-
ers at home.
That has not come true, with many schools relying on teaching methods that have
been used for many years. It will take a few more decades for Asimov’s vision to become
reality, thinks Mr Chase.
“In 30 years time machines will know what each student knows and what he or she
needs to learn next. There is no way that humans can equal that educational power,” he
said.Where Asimov was less accurate were his predictions about humankind’s relation-
ship with space. He foresaw that by 2019 humans would have mining factories and a so-
lar power station on the Moon, with strides towards building the first space settlement
well under way. The International Space Station is indeed a permanent structure cir-
cling the Earth, but the Moon has not been colonised. The reasons for this are political
rather than technological, thinks Mr Chase. “The space race fell off a cliff when the So-
viet Union collapsed. That took the pressure off America which had previously felt they
had to beat the Soviets for political and prestige reasons. It became impossible to get
the budgets through Congress.”
In 2017, the White House announced plans to go back to the Moon and build perma-
nent structures there for exploration and experimentation.

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 4 Vortex

Human 2.0
by Neil Sahota

“Our technology, our machines, is part of our humanity,” author, computer scientist, and inventor Ray Kurz-
weil once said. “We created them to extend ourselves, and that is what is unique about human beings.” In the
past few years, there has been considerable discussion around the idea we are slowly merging with our technol-
ogy, that we are becoming transhuman, with updated abilities, including enhanced intelligence, strength, and
awareness.

Considering Kurzweil’s words is a good place to begin this discussion. It’s no secret that Google has transhu-
manistic aspirations. In 2011, Steven Levy made this bold statement about the company in the book, In the Plex:
“From the very start, its founders saw Google as a vehicle to realize the dream of artificial intelligence in aug-
menting humanity.” Naturally, it makes sense Google would bring on Kurzweil to be its Director of Engineering in
2012. For years, Kurzweil has been pushing the cultural conversation toward the idea of human transcendence
with thought-provoking books: The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near: When Humans Tran-
scend Biology.
Although Kurzweil has gained much notoriety for proposing provocative ideas in the latter book, such as,
“The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our
technology, resulting in a world that is still human but that transcends our biological roots,” the term “singulari-
ty” originated in a 1993 essay, The Coming Technological Singularity, by science fiction author and professor Ver-
nor Vinge.
To truly grasp the significance of Vinge’s thinking, it’s important to realize where we were as a society in the
early 1990s. Back then, the invention of smartphones and social media platforms were years away. The Internet
itself, now so vital to all aspects of our life — communication, commerce, and entertainment — was in its infancy.
Yet, here was Vinge boldly proclaiming: “Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create su-
perhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.”
Just consider: Here we are, a little shy of 30 years from Vinge’s prediction and the reality of transhumanism
has not just caught on with the general public as a distinct possibility — it has become a living, breathing reality.
Recently, Michael Ashley, my coauthor of the upcoming book, Uber Yourself Before You Get Kodaked: A Modern
Primer on A.I. for the Modern Business, and I sought to tap into the cultural zeitgeist on this subject by interview-
ing Ben Goertzel. Goertzel is just the right person to speak about human potential in the age of A.I. The found-
er and CEO of SingularityNET, Goertzel is also the chairman of the Artificial General Intelligence Society and the
OpenCog Foundation. Along with David Hanson of Hanson Robotics, Goertzel co-created Sophia, the first robot
to gain national citizenship.
Like Vinge and Kurzweil, Goertzel is fascinated by the idea of transhumanism and makes the case it’s not
just pie-in-the-sky conjecture — transhumanism has been occurring for some time, albeit in analog form. “In a
way, it’s happening bit by bit,” Goertzel said. “If you take my glasses away, I become heavily impaired, I can’t par-
ticipate in the world.” Goertzel also points to more recent developments to illuminate the subtler ways we have
been merging with computers in recent years. “And, of course, if you take the smartphone away from my wife or
kids, they will go into withdrawal and also become heavily impaired.”
Still, many people fear transhumanism. Critics warn of designer babies and chips implanted in our minds.
Theologians fear we will denigrate the soul’s sanctity by achieving immortality. In the early 2000s, the editors
of Foreign Policy asked policy intellectuals: “What idea, if embraced, would pose the greatest threat to the wel-
fare of humanity?” Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies, pointed to transhumanism, calling it the “world’s most dangerous idea.” Writ-
ing for Psychology Today, Massimo Pigliucci stated, “There are several problems with the pursuit of immortality,
one of which is particularly obvious. If we all live (much, much) longer, we all consume more resources and have
more children, leading to even more overpopulation and environmental degradation.”
No matter the intellectual misgivings surrounding this controversial topic, the fact remains that if we view
transhumanism the way it is conventionally defined, people have been evolving toward an updated version of
humanity for some time. “In some ways, we already operate as human machine-hybrids,” said Goertzel. “If a
caveman came into the modern world, he would be astounded at how symbiotic we are with the various ma-
chines we use. We use cars to get from point A to point B and air conditioners to regulate our temperature. In
Hong Kong at least, you never see anyone who’s not holding a phone in their hand and staring at it.”
But there may be other, more pragmatic reasons why we need to become transhuman, if only to stand up to
the intelligent machines that are coming. Early on, Elon Musk sounded the alarm about humans being usurped

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 vortex 5

by artificial intelligence in a series of well-publicized warnings. Since then, he has suggested that the only way
not to be overtaken by computers is to merge with our creations. His venture, Neuralink, is in development pre-
cisely for this purpose. Meant to combine human brains with computers, it’s his attempt to symbiotically join our
minds with the machines. “The merge scenario with A.I. is the one that seems like probably the best,” he recently
said on the podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. “If you can’t beat it, join it.”
A visionary himself, Goertzel has long foreseen Musk’s vision coming, yet he urges caution in its implemen-
tation. “The next step to take is to wire these machines directly into the brain and body rather than have them
held in our hands. Clearly, this takes time and thought because you need to be careful with sticking wires into
human brains and bodies. But that work is being done, and it’s not going to take more than a decade.”
Returning to Vinge’s prescience at the end of the 20th century, we can see he was imagining a future that
would occur even sooner than he predicted. If we take Goertzel at his word, we are through Fukuyama’s and oth-
ers’ hand-wringing stage. We’re now at the point to think about practicalities. Technology slows down for no
one. Whether we like it or not, there is a pre-smartphone and a post-smartphone world. Presumably, we all know
someone who was loathe to adopt the new technology — it’s likely their business even suffered until they be-
gan using an iPhone or Android — or got swept aside by adapters willing to change with the times. Are we at the
precipice of a similar phenomenon? Are we staring down the gulf at “Human 2.0?”
To put this dilemma in clearer focus, Goertzel advises considering the question, not from your perspective,
but from your child’s. He paints a picture: “Imagine it’s eight years from now. All the other kids in your daugh-
ter’s third-grade class are way ahead of her because their brains are connected directly to Google and a calcula-
tor, and they’re SMSing back and forth by Wi-Fi telepathy between their brains while your daughter sits there in
class being stunted because she must memorize things the old-fashioned way and can’t send messages brain-to-
brain.”
Goertzel suggests you consider what you would do if your daughter’s teacher brought you in for a parent
conference and told you your daughter couldn’t keep up with her classmates. Imagine she suggested some form
of upgrade. You love your daughter. You want the best for her. What would you do?
At this point, the prospect of transhumanism stops being an intellectual exercise. It becomes a question of
subsistence.

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 6 Vortex

“It has become appallingly obvious that

our technology has exceeded our humani-
ty.” — Albert Einstein

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Technological
Singularity
by Amit Paul Chowdhury
ent people hold different notions about the term. One of the leading
inventors and futurist, Ray Kurzweil describes Technological Singulari-
ty as an era when human intelligence will become increasingly non-bi-
ological, and trillions of times more robust. Another theory proposes
that when we are capable of creating machines more intelligent than
us, it follows that either these machines or their near-descendants
will also be able to create systems more intelligent than themselves.
According to Kurzweil’s predictions, this trend of exponen-
tial growth in technology leading to Singularity will happen before
the mid-21st century. However, nobody can precisely predict the fu-
ture of AI, as technology continues to grow at such massive rates.
How did the concept Technological singular-
ity come into existence?
The idea behind Technological Singularity has been modified and
has evolved with years of research on the subject. The term was first
coined by John von Neumann, a Hungarian mathematician and physi-
cist, in 1958 as a technology that could lead to fundamental change in
humans. Stanislaw Ulam also imagined something similar around the
same time.the words of renowned statistician, I.J. Good, “human minds
will devise technology to improve on their own minds, which once initi-
vortex 7
The computing power that we witness today has in-
creased several-fold, owing to the rapid proliferation in the
number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated
circuit, and the growing trend that supports development
of computer hardware. The day isn’t far when our techno-
logical creations will surpass the computing power of hu-
man brain. In the words of the famous science fiction au-
thor, Vernor Vinge “When this happens, human history will
have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transi-
tion as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the cen-
ter of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our
understanding.”
The term Technological Singularity has been coined to describe the
transformation that could be noticed because of an intersection be-
tween humans, technology, and artificial intelligence. However, differ-
ated will lead to realization of super-intelligence.” He coined the termi-
nology “intelligence explosion” for his theory. Good’s work influenced
mathematician, computer scientist, and science fiction author Vernor
Vinge. In 1986, he became the first person to use Singularity in a techno-
logical sense.
How is Singularity beneficial for humanity?
Theory dictates that Singularity will lead to proliferation in the
number of intelligent beings, as these machines will continue creat-
ing things which are not only intelligent, but also increasingly unimag-
inable. The technology is still mostly in its conceptual stages, and it
will take years before we directly reap comprehensive benefits of it.
But when that happens, it will accompany improvements to the speed
with which these AIs can run. This will be another great step towards
automating human tasks. Singularity will lead to superhuman intelli-
gence, owing to the incredibly fast, powerful processing power. This
intelligence will assist the software itself to reach at certain conclu-
sions on its own. Singularity will basically bestow power of rewriting
the source code on the software itself, for progressive improvement.
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 8 Vortex

The future of
space colonization
– terraforming or
space habitats?
by Matt Williams

The idea of terraforming Mars – aka “Earth’s Twin” – is a fascinat-

ing idea. Between melting the polar ice caps, slowly creating an atmo-
sphere, and then engineering the environment to have foliage, riv-
ers, and standing bodies of water, there’s enough there to inspire just
about anyone! But just how long would such an endeavor take, what
would it cost us, and is it really an effective use of our time and energy?
Such were the questions dealt with by two papers presented at NA-
SA’s “Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop” last week (Mon. Feb. 27th
– Wed. Mar. 1st). The first, titled “The Terraforming Timeline”, presents
an abstract plan for turning the Red Planet into something green and
habitable. The second, titled “Mars Terraforming – the Wrong Way”, re-
jects the idea of terraforming altogether and presents an alternative.
The former paper was produced by Aaron Berliner from the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, and Chris McKay from the Space
Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center. In their pa-
per, the two researchers present a timeline for the terraforming of
Mars that includes a Warming Phase and an Oxygenation Phase,
as well as all the necessary steps that would precede and follow.
“Terraforming Mars can be divided into two phases. The first
phase is warming the planet from the present average surface tem-
perature of -60° C to a value close to Earth’s average temperature to
+15° C, and recreating a thick CO² atmosphere. This warming phase
is relatively easy and quick, and could take ~100 years. The sec-
ond phase is producing levels of O² in the atmosphere that would al-
low humans and other large mammals to breath normally. This ox-
ygenation phase is relatively difficult and would take 100,000 years
or more, unless one postulates a technological breakthrough.”
Before these can begin, Berliner and McKay acknowledge that cer-
tain “pre-terraforming” steps need to be taken. These include investigat-
ing Mars’ environment to determine the levels of water on the surface,
the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in ice form in the po-
lar regions, and the amount of nitrates in Martian soil. As they explain,
all of these are key to the practicality of making a biosphere on Mars.
So far, the available evidence points towards all three elements exist-
ing in abundance on Mars. While most of Mars water is currently in the form
of ice in the polar regions and polar caps, there is enough there to support
a water cycle – complete with clouds, rain, rivers and lakes. Meanwhile,
some estimates claim that there is enough CO² in ice form in the polar re-
gions to create an atmosphere equal to the sea level pressure on Earth.
Nitrogen is a also fundamental requirement for life and nec-
essary constituent of a breathable atmosphere, and recent da-
ta by the Curiosity Rover indicate that nitrates account for ~0.03%
by mass of the soil on Mars, which is encouraging for terrafor-
ming. On top of that, scientists will need to tackle certain eth-
ical questions related to how terraforming could impact Mars.
For instance, if there is currently any life on Mars (or life that could be
revived), this would present an undeniable ethical dilemma for human
colonists – especially if this life is related to life on Earth. As they explain:
“If Martian life is related to Earth life – possibly due to meteorite ex-
change – then the situation is familiar, and issues of what other types
of Earth life to introduce and when must be addressed. However, if Mar-
tian life in unrelated to Earth life and clearly represents a second gen-
esis of life, then significant technical and ethical issues are raised.”
To break Phase One – “The Warming Phase” – down succinct-
ly, the authors address an issue familiar to us today. Essential-
ly, we are altering our own climate here on Earth by introducing CO²
and “super greenhouse gases” to the atmosphere, which is increas-
ing Earth’s average temperature at a rate of many degrees centigrade
per century. And whereas this has been unintentional on Earth, on
Mars it could be re-purposed to deliberately warm the environment.
“The timescale for warming Mars after a focused effort of super
greenhouse gas production is short, only 100 years or so,” they claim.
“If all the solar incident on Mars were to be captured with 100% efficien-
cy, then Mars would warm to Earth-like temperatures in about 10 years.
However, the efficiency of the greenhouse effect is plausibly about
10%, thus the time it would take to warm Mars would be ~100 years.”
Once this thick atmosphere has been created, the next step in-

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 vortex 9

volves converting it into something breathable for humans – where O²

levels would be the equivalent of about 13% of sea level air pressure here
on Earth and CO² levels would be less than 1%. This phase, known as the
“Oxygenation Phase”, would take considerably longer. Once again, they
turn towards a terrestrial example to show how such a process could work.
Here on Earth, they claim, the high levels of oxygen gas (O²) and low
levels of CO² are due to photosynthesis. These reactions rely on the sun’s
energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into biomass – which is rep-
resented by the equation H²O + CO² = CH²O + O². As they illustrate, this
process would take between 100,000 and 170,000 years: “If all the sun-
light incident on Mars was harnessed with 100% efficiency to perform this
chemical transformation it would take only 17 years to produce high levels
of O². However, the likely efficiency of any process that can transform H²O
and CO² into biomass and O² is much less than 100%. The only example we
have of a process that can globally alter the CO² and O² of an entire plant is
global biology. On Earth the efficiency of the global biosphere in using sun-
light to produced biomass and O2 is 0.01%. Thus the timescale for produc-
ing an O² rich atmosphere on Mars is 10,000 x 17 years, or ~ 170,000 years.”
However, they make allowances for synthetic biology and other bio-
technologies, which they claim could increase the efficiency and re-
duce the timescale to a solid 100,000 years. In addition, if human be-
ings could utilize natural photosynthesis (which has a comparatively
high efficiency of 5%) over the entire planet – i.e. planting foliage all
over Mars – then the timescale could be reduced to even a few centuries.
Finally, they outline the steps that need to be taken to get the ball rolling.
These steps include adapting current and future robotic missions to assess
Martian resources, mathematical and computer models that could exam-
ine the processes involved, an initiative to create synthetic organisms for
Mars, a means to test terraforming techniques in a limited environment, and
a planetary agreement that would establish restrictions and protections.
Quoting Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Red Mars Trilogy, (the
seminal work of science fiction about terraforming Mars) they issue a call
to action. Addressing how long the process of terraforming Mars will take,
they assert that we “might as well start now”.

Artist’s impression of the terraforming of Mars, from its current state to a livable world. Credit: Daein Ballard

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 10 Vortex

“If Martian life is related to Earth life – possibly due to meteorite ex-
change – then the situation is familiar, and issues of what other types of
Earth life to introduce and when must be addressed. However, if Mar-
tian life in unrelated to Earth life and clearly represents a second gen-
esis of life, then significant technical and ethical issues are raised.”
To break Phase One – “The Warming Phase” – down succinct-
ly, the authors address an issue familiar to us today. Essential-
ly, we are altering our own climate here on Earth by introducing CO²
and “super greenhouse gases” to the atmosphere, which is increas-
ing Earth’s average temperature at a rate of many degrees centigrade
per century. And whereas this has been unintentional on Earth, on
Mars it could be re-purposed to deliberately warm the environment.
“The timescale for warming Mars after a focused effort of super
greenhouse gas production is short, only 100 years or so,” they claim.
“If all the solar incident on Mars were to be captured with 100% efficien-
cy, then Mars would warm to Earth-like temperatures in about 10 years.
However, the efficiency of the greenhouse effect is plausibly about
10%, thus the time it would take to warm Mars would be ~100 years.”
Once this thick atmosphere has been created, the next step involves
converting it into something breathable for humans – where O² levels
would be the equivalent of about 13% of sea level air pressure here on
Earth and CO² levels would be less than 1%. This phase, known as the “Ox-
ygenation Phase”, would take considerably longer. Once again, they turn
towards a terrestrial example to show how such a process could work.
Here on Earth, they claim, the high levels of oxygen gas (O²) and
low levels of CO² are due to photosynthesis. These reactions rely on
the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into biomass –
which is represented by the equation H²O + CO² = CH²O + O². As they il-
lustrate, this process would take between 100,000 and 170,000 years:
“If all the sunlight incident on Mars was harnessed with 100% effi-
ciency to perform this chemical transformation it would take only 17
years to produce high levels of O². However, the likely efficiency of
any process that can transform H²O and CO² into biomass and O² is
much less than 100%. The only example we have of a process that can
globally alter the CO² and O² of an entire plant is global biology. On
Earth the efficiency of the global biosphere in using sunlight to pro-
duced biomass and O2 is 0.01%. Thus the timescale for producing an
O² rich atmosphere on Mars is 10,000 x 17 years, or ~ 170,000 years.”
However, they make allowances for synthetic biology and other
biotechnologies, which they claim could increase the efficiency and re-
duce the timescale to a solid 100,000 years. In addition, if human beings
could utilize natural photosynthesis (which has a comparatively high
efficiency of 5%) over the entire planet – i.e. planting foliage all over
Mars – then the timescale could be reduced to even a few centuries.
Finally, they outline the steps that need to be taken to get the
ball rolling. These steps include adapting current and future robot-
ic missions to assess Martian resources, mathematical and com-
puter models that could examine the processes involved, an ini-
tiative to create synthetic organisms for Mars, a means to test
terraforming techniques in a limited environment, and a plane-
tary agreement that would establish restrictions and protections.
Quoting Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Red Mars Trilo-
gy, (the seminal work of science fiction about terraforming Mars)
they issue a call to action. Addressing how long the process of terra-
forming Mars will take, they assert that we “might as well start now”.
To this, Valeriy Yakovlev – an astrophysicist and hydrogeol-
ogist from Laboratory of Water Quality in Kharkov, Ukraine – of-
fers a dissenting view. In his paper, “Mars Terraforming – the Wrong
Way”, he makes the case for the creation of space biospheres in
Low Earth Orbit that would rely on artificial gravity (like an O’Neill
Cylinder) to allow humans to grow accustomed to life in space.
Looking to one of the biggest challenges of space colonization,
Yakovlev points to how life on bodies like the Moon or Mars could be
dangerous for human settlers. In addition to being vulnerable to so-

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 vortex 11

lar and cosmic radiation, colonists would

have to deal with substantially lower grav-
ity. In the case of the Moon, this would be
roughly 0.165 times that which humans ex-
perience here on Earth (aka. 1 g), where-
as on Mars it would be roughly 0.376 times.
The long-term effects of this are not
known, but it is clear it would include muscle
degeneration and bone loss. Looking farther,
it is entirely unclear what the effects would
be for those children who were born in either
environment. Addressing the ways in which
these could be mitigated (which include medi-
cine and centrifuges), Yakovlev points out how
they would most likely be ineffective: “The
hope for the medicine development will not
cancel the physical degradation of the mus-
cles, bones and the whole organism. The re-
habilitation in centrifuges is less expedient
solution compared with the ship-biosphere
where it is possible to provide a substantial-
ly constant imitation of the normal gravity
and the protection complex from any harm-
ful influences of the space environment. If the
faces for installing houses, but resources that years the first generation of children born in the
path of space exploration is to create a colony
robots will deliver from planets and satellites. Cosmos will grow and the Earth will decrease,
on Mars and furthermore the subsequent at-
2. The possibility of creating a habitat because it will enter the legends as a whole…
tempts to terraform the planet, it will lead to
as close as possible to the earth’s cradle al- As a result, terraforming will be canceled. And
the unjustified loss of time and money and in-
lows one to escape from the inevitable phys- the subsequent conference will open the way
crease the known risks of human civilization.”
ical degradation under a different gravity. It for real exploration of the Cosmos. I’m proud
In addition, he points to the challeng-
is easier to create a protective magnetic field. to be on the same planet as Elon Reeve Musk.
es of creating the ideal environment for indi-
3. The transfer between worlds and His missiles will be useful to lift designs for the
viduals living in space. Beyond simply creat-
sources of resources will not be a dan- first biosphere from the lunar factories. This is
ing better vehicles and developing the means
gerous expedition, but a normal life. Is it a close and direct way to conquer the Cosmos.”
to procure the necessary resources, there is
good for sailors without their families? With NASA scientists and entrepreneurs like
also the need to create the ideal space en-
4. The probability of death or degradation Elon Musk and Bas Landorp looking to colo-
vironment for families. Essentially, this re-
of mankind as a result of the global catastro- nize Mars in the near future, and other commer-
quires the development of housing that is op-
phe is significantly reduced, as the coloniza- cial aerospace companies developing LEO, the
timal in terms of size, stability, and comfort.
tion of the planets includes reconnaissance, size and shape of humanity’s future in space
In light of this, Yakolev presents what
delivery of goods, shuttle transport of people is difficult to predict. Perhaps we will joint-
he considers to be the most likely pros-
– and this is much longer than the construction ly decide on a path that takes us to the Moon,
pects for humanity’s exit to space between
of the biosphere in the Moon’s orbit. Dr. Ste- Mars, and beyond. Perhaps we will see our
now and 2030. This will include the cre-
phen William Hawking is right, a person does best efforts directed into near-Earth space.
ation of the first space biospheres with ar-
not have much time. Or perhaps we will see ourselves go-
tificial gravity, which will lead to key devel-
ing off in multiple directions at once. Where-
opments in terms of materials technology,
And with space habitats in place, some as some groups will advocate creating space
life support-systems, and the robotic sys-
very crucial research could begin, includ- habitats in LEO (and later, elsewhere in the
tems and infrastructure needed to install and
ing medical and biologic research which Solar System) that rely on artificial grav-
service habitats in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
would involve the first children born in ity and robotic spaceships mining aster-
These habitats could be serviced thanks
space. It would also facilitate the develop- oids for materials, others will focus on estab-
to the creation of robotic spacecraft that
ment of reliable space shuttles and resource lishing outposts on planetary bodies, with
could harvest resources from nearby bod-
extraction technologies, which will come in the goal of turning them into “new Earths”.
ies – such as the Moon and Near-Earth Ob-
handy for the settlement of other bodies – Between them, we can expect that humans
jects (NEOs). This concept would not on-
like the Moon, Mars, and even exoplanets. will begin developing a degree of “space exper-
ly remove the need for planetary protections
Ultimately, Yakolev thinks that space bio- tise” in this century, which will certainly come
– i.e. worries about contaminating Mars’ bio-
spheres could also be accomplished within a in handy when we start pushing the boundaries
sphere (assuming the presence of bacterial
reasonable timeframe – i.e. between 2030 and of exploration and colonization even further.
life), it would also allow human beings to be-
2050 – which is simply not possible with terra-
come accustomed to space more gradually.
forming. Citing the growing presence and pow-
As Yakovlev told Universe Today via
er of the commercial space sector, Yakolev also
email, the advantages to space habi-
believed a lot of the infrastructure that is neces-
tats can be broken down into four points:
sary is already in place (or under development).
1. This is a universal way of mastering the
“After we overcome the inertia of thinking
infinite spaces of the Cosmos, both in the So-
+20 years, the experimental biosphere (like the
lar System and outside it. We do not need sur-
settlement in Antarctica with watches), in 50

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 12 Vortex

The Kardashev
Scale
by Gaia Staff

The Kardashev Civilization scale is a hypothetical scale by which civilizations advance technologically,
measured by the methods and quantities of energy they are able to harvest. Currently, we fall somewhere
between a type 0 and type one civilization on the scale.
A Type 0 civilization is one that has yet to harness all of the energy output of its planet. This type of civi-
lization is still in the process of utilizing unsustainable energy sources like fossil fuels.
A Type one Civilization on the Kardashev civilization scale can harness and store all of the energy it re-
ceives from its parent star. We haven’t achieved this level yet, but it is believed we will probably reach it
within the next century.
We like to believe that we live in a technologically advanced society in which we have mastered our en-
vironment and are progressing forward on an exponential path. And while Moore’s Law is holding up with
computing advancement at such a rate, we barely rank on the Kardashev scale. Yes, this scale is hypotheti-
cal, but it is plausible if we are to think of how we might inevitably ascend to the next level. The Kardashev
scale ranks civilizations primarily on how they harness energy and then it assumes other interesting capabil-
ities from there.
Nikolai Kardashev is a Russian astrophysicist, who in 1964 developed a thought experiment regarding
how civilizations might advance. Although our civilization has not quite reached the first level on his scale,
we are a relatively new civilization in his grand scope. The amount of time that is required to reach the differ-
ent thresholds of Kardashev’s civilization scale requires millions and eventually billions of years. If a civiliza-
tion can survive long enough to ascend one level without self-destructing, its chances dramatically improve
in continuing on to further levels.

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Also known as a Type I civilization, plan-
etary civilizations harness the entire energy
output of its star or about 100,000 times the
amount of energy we can harness. At this point,
this civilization could control the weather on
their planet and would not be phased by eco-
logical issues. Natural phenomena could be al-
tered and cities would likely be built wherever
the civilization desired, like in the middle of the
ocean. This is one self-preserving step in the di-
rection of immortality for a civilization.
A stellar civilization is a few thousand years
more advanced than we are. This level of soci-
ety would be able to harness all energy from its
local star. This is where things start to get in-
teresting and technology of this proportion be-
comes harder to fathom. A theoretical mod-
el that parallels Kardashev’s scale comes from
Freeman Dyson, who conceived of the epon-
ymous Dyson sphere. He formulated his the-
ory in a paper titled, Search for Artificial Stel-
lar Sources of Infrared Radiation, proposing a
search for infrared radiation which could po-
tentially be seen in civilizations harnessing
the energy of their star with a Dyson Sphere.
Dyson theorized a progression of levels in
which a civilization could start to extract en-
ergy from its star ranging from a swarm of sat-
ellites to an actual spherical structure hover-
ing around the star that could be inhabited.
This method of extracting energy from a star
in a controlled manner is called star lifting.
Civilizations of this stature would essential-
ly have reached the level of immortality because
they would have the ability to move planets and
other astronomical bodies within its solar sys-
tem. Imagine if we had the ability to block an
inbound asteroid by moving Mars into its path.
Civilizations of this magnitude look very
much like those in Star Wars. These civilizations
would have the ability to harness the energy of
any star in its galaxy, translating to roughly 10
billion times the energy harnessed by a level 2
civilization. At this point, a civilization this ad-
vanced would be essentially immune to extinc-
tion, barring some sort of universal catastrophe.
The inhabitants of a civilization this far ad-
vanced would most likely be cyborgs or fully ar-
tificial. The capabilities of a society that could
harness such copious amounts of energy would
be astounding. This civilization could possi-
bly even create their own stars, merge stars or
capture energy from gamma rays and quasars.
Galactic civilizations would likely be reach-
ing a point, if it hadn’t already, where black
holes at the center of galaxies would be con-
sidered as a potential resource. After drain-
ing the energy of billions of stars, these civ-
ilizations acting almost like black holes
themselves, would potentially tap into en-
vortex 13
ergy released by supermassive singularities.
This is where Kardashev’s scale ends. It’s
hard enough to perceive of a civilization capa-
ble of harnessing the luminosity of an entire
galaxy. However, some have continued the ex-
tent of his scale to conceive of grander civiliza-
tions that sci-fi has rarely, if ever, delved into.
Hence the name, these civilizations would
span the entirety of a universe. While ga-
lactic civilizations seem farfetched, this lev-
el seems pretty abstract. The capabilities of
this culture could be within the purview of
manipulating space-time, or slowing entro-
py to immortalize themselves. These beings
could likely harness dark energy and poten-
tially live at the event horizon of a black hole.
If there are multiple universes, there
could exist beings that have the ability to trav-
el between them. These beings would have
a comprehension of different levels of mat-
ter, physics and space-time than we could ev-
er comprehend, unless of course we reach
their hypothetical level in billions of years.
Where does it end? Beings in further civili-
zations would have the ability to create multi-
ple universes, a multiverse. Those who are not
adamantly atheist might refer to a being like
this as God, but beyond the original Kardashev
scale all these civilizations are pretty godlike.
Some physicists currently rank us at about
a 0.73 on the scale with the likelihood of ad-
vancement to level 1 occurring within 100-200
years. One of the biggest hurdles that a civili-
zation needs to progress on Kardashev’s scale
is to create a Dyson Sphere or some equivalent.
. While a structure of this magnitude is hard
to conceive, he imagined its precursor to con-
sist of a web of satellites. With NASA sending a
probe closer to the sun than ever before, we are
inching closer to a day when a Dyson Sphere or
some iteration might be feasible and we start
our ascent to the next level on Kardashev’s
scale.
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 14 Vortex

Circular
Cities
It would be far easier and would require
less energy to build new, efficient cities than
to attempt to update and solve the problems
of the old ones. We believe that the present
state and aims of architecture need to be re-
defined to fit the evolving needs of individ-
uals in a Resource Based Economy. We con-
sider the architecture of a circular city to be
most appropriate.
The Venus Project proposes a circular city plan that would uti-
lize the most sophisticated available resources and construction
techniques. Its geometrically elegant and efficient circular arrange-
ment will be surrounded by parks and lovely gardens, which will
be incorporated into the city design. All cities will be designed to
operate with the minimum expenditure of energy using the clean-
est technologies available, which will be in harmony with nature to
obtain the highest possible standard of living for everyone.
The city is divided into radial sectors and circular belts. The cir-
cular scheme offers maximum efficiency, bringing each radial sector
closer to the central dome. People traveling within the city could eas-
ily return to the same place from where they started without having
to take the same route back like in most linear cities. Only one part
of the city is designed and replicated eight times to form the en-
tire city using far fewer resources than conventional methods.
The architecture and individual dwellings of circular cities will
evolve on an entirely different basis from today’s houses. Their struc-
tural elements will be flexible and coherently arranged to best serve
individual preference. The prefabricated, modular homes, embody-
ing a high degree of flexibility, could be built anyplace one might
imagine, amidst forests, atop mountains, or on remote islands.
All of these dwellings can be designed as self-contained resi-
dences with their own thermal generators and heat concentrators.
Photovoltaic arrays would be built into the skin of the building and
into the windows themselves. Thermopanes would be used to tint
out the bright sunlight by variable patterns of shading. All these
features could be selected by the occupant to supply more than
enough of the energy required to operate the entire household.
Homes could be prefabricated of a new type of pre-stressed,
reinforced concrete with a flexible ceramic external coating that
would be relatively maintenance-free, fireproof, and impervi-
ous to the weather. Their thin shell construction can be mass-pro-
duced in a matter of hours. With this type of construction, there
would be minimal damage from earthquakes and hurricanes.

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