The Kardashev scale is defined by the expression:
where P is the power generated by the civilization expressed in Watts. For planetary civilizations P=1016 W, K(P)=1 (e.g. Type I). For stellar civilizations P=1026W, K(P)=2 (e.g. Type II). For galactic civilizations P=1036 W, K(P)=3 (e.g. Type III). Earth is currently at K(P)~0.7, lower than the threshold for Type I.
Another useful scale is the power available to the individual. For example, we can set:
where I is the number of individuals in the civilization. If we assume that a Type I civilization has a population of 10 billion individuals, KI(P)=0. In essence, we see that there is a MW of power per individual for a Type I civlization that has approximately Earth’s population.
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