Chapter 173: Classification of Cosmic Civilizations

Inside the leadership conference room of the Su City TV station.

Station Chief Old Zhao looked at Wang Lin, "Is this formula really correct?"

Wang Lin was holding his phone, watching the broadcast of the comments, "Yes, this formula has been verified, and its reliability is as high as 95%."

Old Zhao asked again, "Then can it really calculate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations?"

"It really can, but the data I found isn't accurate. The Su City Astronomical Research Institute has already provided the answer in the live stream: 530,000."

As soon as these words were spoken, the leaders present immediately began to discuss the answer.

Old Wang took over the conversation and asked, "Then have any communicable extraterrestrial civilizations been found?"

"I am just as confused as those people now. Even though there are so many communicable extraterrestrial civilizations, we haven't found a single one."

"You have to know, the number of astronomical observatories in our country is very large. We are constantly monitoring and searching in all directions of the universe, so we should definitely be able to find extraterrestrial civilization signals."

"But the result is very strange; there isn't a single one, absolutely not a single one!"

At this moment, Xiao Shiyi asked whimsically, "Is there a possibility that the electromagnetic waves used for signal transmission disappear, following the E=MC² law?"

Wang Lin rolled his eyes at Xiao Shiyi, "I told you to read more, where did all that reading go?"

"What, what's wrong now!" Xiao Shiyi looked confused, "I've read plenty of books, alright?"

"Sigh!" Wang Lin remarked, "In the macroscopic universe, electromagnetic waves do not disappear when they travel to a certain distance, but they do undergo redshift, meaning the electromagnetic waves dilute, thereby increasing their wavelength, and so on."

"As long as an extraterrestrial civilization signal is transmitted within the Observable Universe, regardless of whether the signal encounters refraction, reflection, or even attenuation during the process!"

"As long as our country's equipment, the [Sky Eye], is running, it can constantly receive all those electromagnetic waves. If we filter and screen them, theoretically, we can find extraterrestrial civilization signals by only receiving suspicious electromagnetic waves."

"But in reality, there are none, not a single one!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shiyi looked embarrassed and coughed dryly, "Ahem, I see, it's just that I haven't read enough books!"

Old Wang, Old Zhao, and the other leaders all quietly turned their heads to hide their embarrassment. Their questions were actually the same as Xiao Shiyi's; it was fortunate they hadn't asked and made fools of themselves.

Just as the scene was gradually heading in an awkward direction, Jiang Zhe's question came from the big screen.

"I'm afraid everyone is thinking about a question right now."

"Since the verification formula is fine, and the number of communicable extraterrestrial civilizations in the final Observable Universe has been calculated, even if the final answers vary, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions."

"But in the end, our astronomical monitoring stations haven't received any definitive extraterrestrial civilization signals, right?"

That was indeed the case; both professionals and amateurs were trapped in this dilemma.

There are extraterrestrial civilizations, yet there are no signals.

This is a completely unscientific existence!

"Therefore, if we want to explore why no extraterrestrial civilization signals have been detected, everyone actually needs to understand the level of our Earth."

"Does everyone know the current level of our Earth?"

As soon as this question was asked, confused comments flooded the live stream again.

"What does that mean? What is Earth's level?"

"I study astronomy, and I have never heard of any Earth level!"

"Could he be making things up? But looking at Jiang Zhe's situation, he even gave the formula; it doesn't look like he's making it up!"

"..."

The experts reacted in the same way as the audience.

To them, what level could Earth possibly have? This isn't some leveling-up game; how could there be levels?

Inside the lecture hall.

Professor Hua Yunfeng looked at the young astronomy student who had previously answered his questions, "Young man, what does Earth level mean?"

The young man looked confused and shook his head repeatedly, "I don't know. I didn't know that Earth even had levels!"

Old Feng looked to the other side and asked another group of elderly astronomers, "Which brother knows our Earth's level?"

As it turned out, that group of old men shook their heads one after another.

"There is no such thing."

"I guarantee with my Bronze-tier Professor status, we haven't classified Earth into levels."

"+1!"

Seeing that everyone said so, Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng became even more confused.

Could it be that Jiang Zhe has come up with something new behind everyone's back?

...

Su City, Astronomical Research Institute.

Looking at his phone screen, Director Wu looked thoughtful.

"Earth level... I have seen this concept in foreign scientific journals before."

"But that concept was just a concept; no one has ever deeply classified it."

"Could it be that Jiang Zhe has secretly classified Earth levels behind the scenes?"

"But how to classify it, what basis to use for classification, and how to get recognition from peers without being called nonsense?"

There were many astronomical leaders on the scene who were just as confused as him. After Jiang Zhe's formula was presented just now, they realized that it was truly possible for Jiang Zhe to do so.

Sure enough!

The next moment, Jiang Zhe's voice came through everyone's phones.

"My apologies for saying too much; I thought everyone knew about Earth levels."

"Alright, since everyone doesn't know, I will explain in depth what level our Earth civilization is currently at."

As soon as these words were spoken, the audience just felt their faces flush a little.

"Is this something a human would say?"

"Do you think everyone is like you, casually proposing concepts and formulas that could be included in textbooks?"

"I want to punch someone. I just arrived at the live stream; if it weren't for having heard your reputation, I would have definitely turned into a keyboard warrior and scolded you."

"..."

Jiang Zhe smiled and explained.

"Getting to the point."

"Earlier, I divided cosmic civilizations into 7 levels, which are Level 0 to Level 7 civilizations."

"How are these civilization levels classified?"

He held up one finger to the camera, "Using resources!"

"That's right, it is exactly the kind of [Resources] that everyone imagines."

The audience and experts were not unfamiliar with the word "resources."

Things like coal, ore, and renewable energy all belong to the [Resource category].

If Jiang Zhe uses [Resources] to classify levels...

Soon, the astronomers' eyes lit up; this was promising, it could work!

But as for how exactly to classify it, a new doubt quickly filled their hearts.

"For example: in our ancient times, starting from the Qin Dynasty."

"I won't concern myself with the tribal era or the Warring States period before that."

"Starting from the Qin Dynasty, the resources available at that time were only basic ores, which we can completely ignore."

"In my civilization level classification table, the Qin Dynasty is approximately equal to Level 0."

"And by the time of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, gunpowder had fully appeared. It appeared in the form of fireworks, muskets, cannons, and the like, and their levels hovered between 0.1 and 0.2."

"You can imagine that the so-called prosperous ages in ancient times were only under the premise that the common people wouldn't starve to death; they only reached such a negligible level."

As soon as this example was given, the clever audience immediately realized a fact.

Jiang Zhe's classification of civilization levels was very serious and not at all pretentious!

Even though the Qin Dynasty could unify the six states, it could only be considered a Level 0 civilization...

And in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties a thousand years later, culture and technology had developed, yet they only achieved a step to Level 0.2.

However, upon careful reflection, it was indeed as Jiang Zhe said.

The amount of resources used and technology controlled can indeed classify civilization levels.

"Then what is our current level?"

"That's right, with our airplanes, cannons, aircraft carriers, going to the moon, Mars, and various renewable resources, we must have reached an astonishing Level 1, right?"

"..."

Listening to the doubts in the comments, Jiang Zhe grinned, "I'm very sorry, no. Our current technological civilization has only reached Level 0.73, which is still far from the Level 1 everyone is talking about."

As soon as these words were spoken, many viewers immediately wanted to refute, but before they could, Jiang Zhe revealed the answer in advance.

"Don't be in a hurry to refute; listen to my following explanation, and you will know why Earth has not yet entered a Level 1 civilization."

"Level 1 civilization, I call it [Home Planet Civilization], or [Planetary Civilization]."

"A Level 1 civilization has the ability to extract and utilize all energy on its home planet, meaning it can utilize all available resources on the home planet, which is also called a planetary civilization."

"Remember, it is all the resources that can be completely utilized, and resources that are not wasted!"

"To fully master the extraction and output of energy on our Earth, we must be able to control the weather, rivers, living things, and oceans at will, and also ensure that sunlight is not wasted at all."

"Even the changes and rise and fall within the Earth's crust must be controlled and utilized. It can be said that to reach a Level 1 civilization, one must dominate everything on Earth."

"The current level of human civilization can only barely reach 78%, capable of breaking through the shackles of our planet's Gravity to enter space, and preliminarily conducting planetary exploration and colonization within the star system."

"Naturally, the Earth's civilization level, as of December 2024, is approximately 78%. It was 75% a few years ago, and it has improved slightly in recent years."

"So everyone, think carefully, what resources can we currently utilize, and what resources have we invisibly wasted?"

With this series of remarks, a wave of disappointment also appeared on the faces of the experts and the audience.

In Jiang Zhe's eyes, the technology, civilization, and culture they were so proud of were actually worthless!