Michio Kaku: Will Mankind Destroy Itself?

I say looking at the next 100 years that there are two trends in the world today the first trend is toward what we call a type one civilization a planetary civilization a civilization that resembles something out of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon a type two civilization is stellar they consume so much energy they can play with stars that's for example the Federation of Planets is Star Trek Star Trek would represent the typical type to civilization then we have type 3 which is galactic like the Borg or Independence Day or the Empire of The Empire Strikes Back that is a type 3 civilization which is truly galactic now by the time you reach type 2 you are immortal nothing known to science can destroy a type two civilization comets meteors earthquakes even a supernova a type two civilization would be able to survive even a supernova the danger is the transition between type zero and type one and that's where we are today we are a type 0 civilization we get our energy from dead plants oil and coal but if you get a calculator you can calculate when we will attain type 1 status the answer is in about a hundred years we will become planetary we'll be able to harness all the energy output of the planet earth will play with the weather earthquakes volcanoes anything planetary we will play with the danger period is now because we still have the savagery we still have all the passions we have all the sectarian fundamentalist ideas circulating around but we also have nuclear weapons we have chemical biological weapons capable of wiping out life on Earth so I see two trends in the world today the first trend is toward a multicultural scientific tolerant society and everywhere I go I see aspects of that birth for example what is the internet many people have written about the Internet billions and billions of words written about the internet but to me as a physicist the Internet is the beginning of a type one telephone system a planetary telephone system so we're privileged to be alive to witness the birth of type 1 technology a planetary telephone system what is English English is the beginning of a type 1 language everywhere I go around the earth people speak English because that's the lingua franca of science technology business they all speak English it is the number one second language on the planet Earth and what is the European Union the European Union is the beginning of a type-1 economy and how come these European countries which have slaughtered each other ever since the ice melted 10,000 years ago how come they have banded together put aside their differences to create the European Union well to compete with us and who are we we are NAFTA so we're beginning to see the beginning of a type-1 economy as well then we're beginning to see the beginning of a type-1 culture everywhere I go you turn on the radio what do you hear rock and roll you hear rap music you hear youth music Youth music is now planetary knows no boundaries around the planet Earth everywhere I go I see high-fashion Chanel Gucci Bags they were producing the birth of a planetary fashion also sports take a look at the Olympics take a look at soccer we're seeing the beginning of a tribal initiation rite called sports being turned into a planetary initiation rite that unifies the entire planet so whenever I open the newspaper every headline I see in the newspaper points to the birth pangs of a type one civilization information however every time I open the newspaper I also see the opposite trend as well what is terrorism terrorism in some sense is a reaction against the creation of a type one civilization now most terrorists cannot articulate this they don't even know what the hell talking about but what they're reacting to is not modernism with the reacting to is the fact that we're headed toward a multicultural tolerant scientific society and that's what they don't want they don't want science they want a theocracy they don't want multiculturalism they want mono culturalism so instinctively they don't like the the march toward a type one civilization now which tendency will win I don't know but I hope that we emerge as a type one civilization now in outer space we look for signs full of intelligent life in outer space so far we find none civilizations like type 1 should be commonplace in the galaxy some people assume therefore that type 0 civilizations are rather common but only a few of them make it to type 1 because that society for the first time in its history has the ability to commit planetary suicide so maybe that's the reason why we don't see aliens in outer space maybe they never made it maybe one day when we have starships and visit them we'll see atmospheres that are irradiated because they had a nuclear war atmospheres too hot to sustain life because they had a runaway greenhouse effect maybe when we go in out of space we'll see the corpses of type 1 civilizations that never quite made it who knows

Channel: Big Think

Views: 2,353,536

Rating: 4.9008651 out of 5

Keywords: Big Think, BigThink, BigThink.com, Michio, Kaku, Michio Kaku, Mankind, Evolution, (TV, Actor), Time, Physics, Biology, Brains, Science, Technology, Physicist, evolve, technology, physicist, multicultural, terrorism, fundamentalist, monocultural

Id: 7NPC47qMJVg

Length: 6min 1sec (361 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Ptoss]

100 years? not soon enough.

[u/[deleted]]

Maybe all the Type 1+ civilizations, which are part of a larger intra-universal network, are just waiting for us to transform into Type1 and are trying their best at keeping "radio silence" with us.

We have the data. The universe is vast. We've made the calculations. The probability of life elsewhere is considerable. Where the FCK are they? Waiting for us to grow up.

edit - blue165 points out this is like Star Trek's prime directive.

[u/sebzim4500]

This is one of the most fascinating videos I have seen from reddit. I have never heard of this method of classifying civilizations, having never seen a non-physics video from michio kaku.

[u/[deleted]]

He makes it sound like once you reach type 3 you become evil lol. Anybody know of a benevolent type 3 reference?

This really is the hump though. You would imagine once you reach type 1, the transition to type 2 and then 3 really is no where near as difficult as 0 to 1.

[u/[deleted]]

That thumbnail screams "ALIENS".

[u/Mouth_Full_Of_Dry]

America is moving toward a type-2 (diabetic) society.

[u/stemurph88]

Dyson Sphere

[u/USMChris]

John Lennon imagined a type 1 society a while ago.

[u/gojirra]

I wish that he didn't use the word terrorist since it is such a loaded word now. By his very logical and reasonable definition of terrorist (unlike the imaginary straw man the US government defines it as), every country in the world has terrorists that want to stop the development of a type 1 society, especially taking office in the various corrupt governments such as our own here in the US.

We have these first steps toward a type 1 society developing (the internet), and people whom we elect and pay to represent us, and who supposedly stand for the advancement of civilization and the improvement of our society are trying to destroy them.