Human beings, an intelligent life that has lived on the earth for millions of years, finally entered the path of technological development hundreds of years ago. Science and technology is a way to explore the mysteries of all things and a way to explore the mysteries of the universe. Only by entering the path of technological development can human civilization truly usher in a new era.
With the help of science and technology, mankind invented the astronomical telescope and saw the starry sky beyond the earth. And half a century ago, mankind finally walked out of the earth and could see the mystery of the vast universe more intuitively. When human beings walk out of the earth and see the vast universe, they will all think of the issue of alien civilization.
Before human beings walked out of the earth, many people were still skeptical about the existence of alien civilizations, but when we really saw the vast universe and gained more knowledge of the universe, the question of whether alien civilizations existed is already very serious. Few people doubt it anymore. In the eyes of astronomers, alien civilization exists 100%.
If there are a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe, then different wisdom civilizations must be born at different times, and the speed of development will naturally be different. Therefore, the strength of each civilization will be different, so how to divide the strength of cosmic civilization? At this time, some scientists put forward four levels of the strength of cosmic civilization.
The first-level civilization can use all the resources and energy of the parent star, the second-level civilization can use all the resources and energy of the star system, the third-level civilization can use all the energy and resources of the main galaxy, and the fourth-level civilization can use the resources of the entire universe. And energy.
Through this grading standard for cosmic civilization, we can see that human beings are actually not even a first-class civilization. Scientists believe that human beings can only be regarded as level 0.7 civilization now. Although it is only level 0.3 away from level one civilization, it is this small 0.3 that hinders the advancement of human civilization.
Some people may say that in the age of technology, it took less than 200 years for humans to achieve a level of 0.7 leap, so the level of 0.3 is more than 50 years. In other words, it will take more than 50 years for human beings to achieve a first-class civilization. Is this really the case? If you think so, you would be very wrong, but don’t underestimate the last 0.3 level, it seems like a moat is blocking the road of human beings to the first level of civilization.
So what conditions need to be met for human beings to cross this 0.3-level moat and become a first-level civilization? That is, what are the other factors that hinder human civilization from entering a group of civilizations? For this problem, scientists also put forward a reason, these five reasons may make many people do not think.
1. Data calculation has encountered a bottleneck
I believe many friends know that after mankind has entered the age of technology, one of the greatest inventions should be the computer. We all know that exploratory research on scientific theories requires huge data processing. Before the advent of computers, all kinds of data were processed manually. We can imagine that a ticket bank in ancient times required a large number of computing personnel to process data.
I believe that many post-50s and post-60s friends still remember the abacus. It was the most important tool for humans to perform data calculations before computers appeared. At that time, a company or enterprise, finance is often a department with a lot of staff. The reason for using a large number of financial personnel is that the large amount of daily data of the enterprise needs to be continuously sorted and calculated, and the number of personnel cannot be calculated.
However, after the advent of computers, a company’s finances can be calculated and organized by only one person. Of course, this is only a very small application of computers, and it is more often used in the research and exploration of scientific theories. A scientific research project requires a lot of data simulation. If this work is done manually, it may require a large number of scientific researchers and spend a lot of time to complete it, and the data may still be wrong.
With supercomputers, such work may only take a few minutes or less to complete, and there will be no errors in the data. This shows how important computers are to human scientific research. Humans can achieve technological leaps in a hundred years, and computers have played an important role.
But now the development of computers has encountered a bottleneck, that is, it is difficult to qualitatively improve the computing power of data. With the continuous advancement of human science and technology, new theoretical research requires more massive data processing. If the capabilities of computers cannot be qualitatively improved, then the progress of human science will also slow down. To become a first-class civilization, more will be needed. time.
2. The development of materials science has encountered a bottleneck
Materials can be said to be the foundation of science and technology. Every technological product is born on the basis of materials. Without strong materials science, many technologies can only stay in theory and cannot be realized. Although human materials science has made significant progress in the past 100 years, there has been no outstanding progress in our materials science in recent decades.
Let’s take heat-resistant materials as an example. In the past half a century, our breakthroughs in heat-resistant materials have not been particularly successful. I believe many friends know that during the US-Soviet competition in the last century, Soviet scientists carried out a great drilling project-Kola ultra-deep drilling.
The purpose of the Kola ultra-deep drilling experiment is to explore the mysteries of the earth’s interior, and we all know that as the depth of the earth’s interior continues to increase, the temperature is also rising. If you want to drill deeper, you need stronger high-temperature resistant materials. At that time, Soviet scientists used 20 years to drill 12,263 meters underground.
Later, the project was stopped. The reason for the stop was actually very simple, that is, the drill bit could not withstand the high temperature inside the earth. And this 12,263-meter deep hole has also become the target, the world’s deepest underground human borehole. Some people may say that almost 50 years have passed since the Kola ultra-deep borehole experiment. Are we still drilling? Can’t find a deeper hole in the ground? The answer is yes.
This is indeed the case. Although almost half a century has passed and technology has also achieved substantial improvements, we still cannot continue the 12,263-meter ultra-deep borehole. The reason is that there is no stronger high-temperature-resistant strength material, which also shows that in the past half a century, there has been no particular progress in materials science.
3. Controllable nuclear fusion is difficult to achieve in a short time
Fifty years ago, scientists were very proud to say that mankind is expected to achieve controllable nuclear fusion technology in 50 years. But now 50 years have passed, and the goal of controllable nuclear fusion is still far away. Few scientists now dare to make bold claims that mankind can achieve controllable nuclear fusion in 50 years.
This shows that scientists believe that the possibility of human beings achieving controllable nuclear fusion in 50 years is very slim. Controllable nuclear fusion is very important for the upgrade of human civilization to a first-class civilization. It is a revolution in energy. Since mankind entered the age of science and technology, fossil energy has always been used, but now it is difficult for fossil energy to be substantially improved.
In other words, the application of fossil energy has basically reached its peak, energy cannot break through, and many technologies of human civilization cannot be realized. The first-class civilization is able to use all the energy and resources of the solar system, and to achieve this, a stronger power technology is necessary. Without strong power, we cannot cross the solar system freely, and stronger power needs to be achieved by controlled nuclear fusion.
Fourth, the battery technology can not get a breakthrough
The development of science and technology is actually the development of energy. The key to how far science and technology can go depends on energy. Before mankind achieved controllable nuclear fusion, the energy of fossil energy has reached its peak. At this time, we need a transitional energy source to maintain the advancement of human science and technology. This energy source is the battery.
Everyone is familiar with batteries. They are used in all aspects of human beings, but our current battery technology is still relatively backward. With powerful battery technology, it can not only solve most of the environmental pollution problems, but also enable human aerospace technology to achieve a huge leap.
We can imagine that after the leap in battery technology in the future, the application of fossil energy will be scarce. At that time, people will use powerful batteries for travel and daily life. Even the launch of spaceflight will be driven by powerful batteries instead of fossil fuels. This is an important breakthrough direction before the realization of controlled nuclear fusion.
If controllable nuclear fusion cannot be realized, as long as we have achieved a powerful breakthrough in battery technology, we can also use this to upgrade to a first-class civilization. After becoming a first-class civilization, a stronger scientific background may make it easier for us to achieve controlled nuclear fusion.
V. Breakthroughs in genetic technology
The road to science and technology is inseparable from the exploration and research of life, and genetic technology is a science that studies the mysteries of life. Birth, old age, sickness and death are the core of the mystery of life. Although life and death are the laws of nature and the destiny that life cannot escape, aging and disease are our constant breakthroughs through genetic technology.
The life expectancy of human beings in the future will inevitably be greatly increased than it is now, and various diseases will not be able to threaten us. Only when genetic technology can achieve a qualitative breakthrough can human civilization be considered a first-class civilization, but genetic technology is also a discipline that is very difficult to break through in the field of science.
The mystery of life lies in genes. Human beings have been exploring and researching genes very early, but until now we have not cracked the code of many genes. Mankind is far from a major breakthrough in genetic technology.
Through the above five factors, we can see that although human beings are only level 0.3 away from the first level civilization, it is not easy to break through this level 0.3. It may take as little as 50 years or as long as hundreds of years. . In any case, the development of human civilization is very fast. Given tens of thousands of years of technological development time, human civilization may grow into a fourth-level civilization, while other civilizations may take millions or even hundreds of millions of years. It can be realized.