Technoculture

Technological Scale

Though civilizations progress technologically at different speeds with innovations coming at varying times relative to others, all documented civilizations have demonstrated eventual achievement of certain technological paradigms or benchmarks (provided the civilization in question survives enough Great Filter events to achieve them). Sophontologists from the Coalition Science Consortium have designed a multi-dimensional system to more effectively evaluate a civilization's technological capability based on these core paradigms: energy production, materials sciences, computational sciences, mechanical principles, and extremes of construction scale.  

Core Paradigms

Energy

In the mid-20th century CE, the human astronomer Nikolai Kardashev proposed a method of evaluating the sophistication of a civilization based on its net energy consumption, assigning the first tier to a civilization which could utilize all the available energy of its home planet and rising in scale to stars and entire galaxies. Perceiving this scale to be too broad, the CSC technoculture committee opted instead to use a metric that evaluates the primary source of a civilization's energy. According to Consortium research, there is a generally linear progression of energy generation in a technological civilization simply because some energy sources are more difficult to harness than others. This does not directly include the various forms of renewable environmental energy that are common to all advanced civilizations; rather, the energy scale focuses on the most energy-dense reactions that a civilization is capable of harnessing directly.   This begins in the low tiers with simple combustion reactions burning naturally available organic materials, and progresses to burning condensed hydrocarbons or other analogous chemical fuels in the early-mid tiers. The energy paradigm continues into nuclear sources in the mid tiers with increasingly sophisticated fission reactions, and eventually graduates to increasingly energetic forms of fusion power in the late-mid to high tiers. The mastery of alpha process fusion which defines Tier 11 allows a civilization to convert matter from one element to another with ease. Matter-antimatter annihilation is often achieved earlier on the scale but is not a primary source of energy until Tier 12, at which point the power generation paradigm reaches a plateau because 99% efficient matter-antimatter annihilation is the most energy-dense reaction possible.

Materials

The complexity of materials available to a civilization advances more or less in step with the energy production scale. Sophonts start by making use of the resources immediately available to them in the natural world, typically featuring stone and whatever biogenic materials are easily harvested. Once combustion reactions are widely available, materials treated with heat become more common, and the first of these is almost invariably the common soft metals: copper, tin, zinc, lead, and later iron. Higher-grade combustion reactions allow for the production of steel, as well as a variety of other metals and alloys. When energy availabilty and mechanical acumen are advanced enough, a civilization can begin to create new synthetic materials beginning with plastic polymers and composite ceramics.   Advanced synthetic materials achievable with the advent of nuclear energy include complex composites, and silicon compounds, followed by molecular materials such as various metamaterials and configurations of structured carbon (graphene). When a civilization achieves the most advanced forms of nuclear fusion, they are able to engineer materials on an atomic scale, applying graphene-like bonding methods to other elements to create things such as ultra-high-tensile metallic alloys. In theory, a civilization with access to the energies afforded by antimatter reactions could engineer materials on a subatomic scale, utilizing the strong and weak nuclear forces to design materials with fantastical degrees of strength and versatility, but at present no known civilization is advanced enough to achieve this.

Mechanical

Comprehension and application of mechanical principles, often referred to as "classical physics," is an integral part of any civilization's technological progression. This scientific paradigm progresses quite rapidly due to the ease with which sophonts can observe and test the principles involved, and seems to reach a plateau fairly early on once classical physics is fully explained and science moves on to more complex and abstract realms of physics, such as relativity and quantum mechanics. Sophonts discover and experiment with fundamental mechanical laws early on, and begin applying the knowledge to increasingly complex systems in order to maximize energy efficiency. In advanced stages, the principles of electromagnetism and thermodynamics are exploited up to the point where they abut the quantum and relativistic realms.

Computation

Computation is a more abstract technology, referring to the discovery of the mathematical principles which govern our universe and the ways in which a sophont civilization uses them. The earliest stages of computational technology simply rely on the minds and recording technologies of a sophont, usually in some form of written or spoken language. Analog computation begins with dedicated mathematical devices like the abacus and slide-rule, and as mechanical technology advances it becomes possible to automate the process more thoroughly through gears, pistons, switches, and the like (analog timekeeping devices being a ubiquitous example). The advent of digital computing using 0/1 binary states adds a significant degree of flexibility in the programming of computers, leading to advanced —but not yet sapient— automation of many functions and limited machine heurism in the later stages.   Quantum computation introduces an even greater degree of flexibility in computation, introducing a state of superposition to the digital binary. The addition of this "halfway" state allows memory to be integrated rather than separated, which in turn leads to and intrinsic heurism that increases computation speed and fidelity drastically. It is widely believed by noeticists that this intrinsic heurism is the catalyst for sufficiently complex algorithm sets to attain a degree of sapience: thus, a civilization which is able to achieve quantum computation will often unintentionally create its first true artilects. Extremely advanced civilizations may take computing one step further by utilizing the multi-dimensional potential of branes to add further possible states to the quantum computation paradigm. Some Coalition experiments have shown this is possible, but far beyond the current technological capabilities of any documented civilization.

Construct Scale

The scale on which a civilization can construct their technologies increases in extremity alongside its technological acumen, in both directions of magnitude. Early civilizations are only able to construct technologies on the mesostructure scale: objects on the scale of a person, like tools and clothing and small shelters. Slightly more advanced knowledge of materials and mechanical physics allows for macrostructure scale constructions: objects moderately larger than a person, from siege weapons to seagoing ships to grand palaces. Approaching industrial levels of technology allows for the creation of ministructures: objects much smaller than a person, such as intricate gear mechanisms in a precision clock.   The nuclear age brings more significant increases in scale extremity. These tiers bring kilostructures: objects significantly larger than a person, such as arcologies and large space habitats; as well as microstructures: objects that require a microscope to create, such as computer microchips. Fusion power and molecular material engineering ushers in the age of nanostructures: objects that require an electron microscope to create, such as cell-scale medibots. Further developments in these areas lead to the ability to create megastructures: objects approaching the size of small planets, such as orbital rings and worldshells.   Extremely advanced civilizations have access to energies and scientific developments required for the engineering of femtostructures and potentially even Planck-structures: engineering done on the scale of subatomic particles, and possibly even precision engineering of spacetime itself. One documented case of extremely advanced civilization —the creators of the Mu Construct and the motes— have even demonstrated the ability to engineer gigastructures: objects of planetary scale or larger, including stellar engines.

Pinnacle Technologies

While not considered official benchmarks for the Coalition technological scale as described above, there are a number of more specific innovations that are broadly considered to be exemplary achievements for any civilization which manages to invent them. These are called "pinnacle technologies," and are distinguished by their exceptional complexity and radical impact on daily life. Low-grade pinnacle technologies include recorded language, the wheel, and the differential gear; while mid-grade examples include the steam turbine, the electrical distribution network, and the Turing machine. For a starfaring civilization, pinnacle technologies include the ansible, warp drive, artificial intellect, and WARD.