TedEd: Is there a limit to technological progress?

A TedEd by Clément Vidal

Today, just as every other generation, we feel as if we have reached the pinnacle of advancement. But every following generation proves them wrong. Things we take for granted today would have been unimaginable hundreds of years ago. So will we ever get to the limit of technological progress? Does such a thing even exist? In the 1900's two scientists proposed scales to measure such things. Nikolai Kardashev measured it by how much of available energy a civilization consumes, since everything will require energy. There are three levels. A Type 1, or planetary, civilization makes use of all the energy on its planet. We receive 174,000 terawatts from the Sun, but we only use 15 terawatts, mostly in the form of stored fossil fuel energy. To reach Type 1, we would have to cover the planet in solar panels, which could potentially be done in about 400 years. The next step would be to use all of the Sun's energy by encompassing it with solar panels, creating what would be called a Dyson Sphere. Finally, a Type III civilization would harness all the energy in its home galaxy. The second way to looking at progress is smallness. John Barrow suggested looking at objects on our own scale, all the way down to controlling atoms. However, we would likely need to advance on both scales. For example, smaller technologies can help us access more energy and expand on a larger scale. And this wouldn't just be for us. The Kardashev and Barrow scales could be used to identify alien civilizations as well.