Type 17 Societies

Type-17 "civilizations" rarely include more than a handful of individuals; these beings are capable of spanning multiple unrelated universal clusters.

Members of the Q Continuum can warp reality freely, without the need for technology or even a corporeal homeworld, and one individual may have been sighted in multiple unconnected universes. (Star Trek: The Next Generation, 1987)

Type 16 Societies

A Type-16 civilization spans multiple different universal timestreams, but remains limited to a specific multiverse (a set of related universes).

The Aesir of Asgard use an interdimensional transporter, the Bifrost, to travel to any point in the nine universes known to them. (Thor: The Dark World, 2013)

Type 15 Societies

A Type-15 society spans most of the known universe, and may consider entire galaxies as property, with particular groups or individuals claiming stewardship (or even outright ownership) of worlds that are entirely unaware of them.

The Time Lords of Gallifrey are masters of tesseract engineering, allowing the TARDIS' tiny exterior to conceal a massive and constantly reconfigurable spacetime vehicle. (Doctor Who, 1963)

Type 14 Societies

A Type-14 civilization spans multiple neighbouring galaxies, and may be actively interfering in the development of lower-tier societies, either to avoid competition or to "guide" them as servants.

While the rest of his people moved beyond the galaxy, Lorien remained behind to guide the Vorlons and Shadows when the time came for their own journey. (Babylon 5, 1993)

Type 13 Societies

The Type-13 civilization spans an entire galaxy, often with governmental authority distributed between multiple subordinate nations --some of which may become entirely independent (in this case, a type 13 society might well resemble a lower-scaled civilization with access to anachronistic technology). Societies at this level tend to fracture into civil war and gradual decline.

After the Celestial civilization collapsed, their hyperdrive technology allowed the development of a chaotic galaxy-spanning society. (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)

Type 12 Societies

A Type-12 society is an interstellar superpower, able to dominate (either militarily, economically, or socially) an entire quadrant, and with a reputation that may span its entire galaxy. These societies are generally heavily concerned with self-maintenance; this is an era of political infighting, diplomacy, and social development.

By the late 24th Century, the Federation encompasses thousands of worlds and is an unavoidable political, diplomatic, military, and cultural influence in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants --and is known by reputation as far as the Delta and Gamma Quadrants. (Star Trek Nemesis, 2002)

Type 11 Societies

A Type-11 society is one in which member worlds are functionally self-reliant --they no longer need the Homeworld propping them up, and have banded together voluntarily. This civilization is (generally) no longer worried about mere survival, but has the luxury of seeking improvement (either through intellectual advancement, territorial expansion, economic dominion, or merely social stasis).

In the wake of the Romulan War, Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and the independent Alpha Centauri colonies banded together to create the United Federation of Planets; a Type-11 civilization. (Enterprise, 2001)

Type 10 Societies

A Type-10 society has broken the light barrier, and is capable of building faster-than-light starships to visit neighbouring solar systems. The defining element of a Type-10 society is that the Homeworld will be the main political entity --when members of this society say "home," they will universally be referring to the homeworld, even if that particular citizen has never set foot there.

Faster-than-light starships will enable this civilization to explore beyond their solar system, while still maintaining close contact with home. (Enterprise, 2001)

Type 9 Societies

Type-9 is the furthest a society can advance without faster-than-light travel --as such, it is the farthest that traditionally "hard" science fiction can look. While a Type-9 species could establish colonies in neighbouring solar systems (using sleeper or generation ships), without at least some form of FTL communication those colonies would be effectively cut off from the homeworld (making them independent societies).

A Type-9 society will have the technology to build (and destroy) large-scale space habitats. (Gundam AGE, 2011)

Type 8 Societies

A Type-8 society could be characterized as the "cyberpunk" future. As the planet's resources are used up (ten billion is about the maximum population an Earth-sized planet can support), the global economy comes to rely heavily on space-mining --which means that the greatest economic growth will be of the corporations performing the mining, with little of it redistributed to the bulk of the terrestrial population. The social backlash to this leads to a widespread counter-culture; an entire generation of impoverished renegades with nothing to lose, but nothing to gain either.

For those locked out of the system, life is harsh, unforgiving, and short. (Akira, 1988)

Type 7 Societies

A Type-7 society will have access to planetary orbit, and a robust and largely unrestricted planetary data network, but will also be dealing with resource shortages and environmental collapse.

This civilization will likely have a semi-permanent space station in orbit. (picture by NASA)

Type 6 Societies

Wealth and prosperity signal an Age of Discovery and an Industrial Revolution, permanently transforming this society, and eventually ushering in the Atomic Age and the dawn of space exploration. Space will become the Final Frontier --the only remaining way for this civilization to expand.

The Industrial revolution and its underlying philosophy (that things of a type should be identical and interchangeable) will influence society from here onward. (picture from Getty Images)

Type 5 Societies

Type-5 societies tend to be unstable: while the leader of a Type-4 civilization can exert direct authority over an entire kingdom, the Type-5 society has grown too large and widespread. The ruler must now rely on territorial lords and administrators, who will have ample opportunity to act in secret.

The Roman Senate was the true power in this Type-5 society. (HBO's Rome, 2005)

Type 4 Societies

Early Type-4 societies face dangers from climate (a single bad drought/flood/harvest can starve the growing population), plague (dense populations, often with limited hygiene, and frequent new arrivals due to trade), and war (larger populations allow for the growth of armies, and will also strain resources). The high mortality rate (due to wars and plague) will push society toward large families, in the hope that at least some children will grow to old age. The dangers of plague and war will only add to this society's xenophobia --shunning outsiders is a valuable survival strategy.

A typical Iron-age city. (image from Ancient Architecture)

Type 3 Societies

A stable neolithic society has the opportunity to make long-term observations --recognizing that a buried seed can become a plant, and that the seasons change according to the stars and moons. This will trigger an agricultural revolution, which will completely transform society. Agriculture means more food, which means a larger, healthier, and more socially-complex population, which also means more problems with internal organization and raids from less-prosperous neighbours.

An advanced Type-3 society built Göbekli Tepe as a place of worship. (Picture by Fernando Baptista)

Type 2 Societies

Members of a paleolithic Type-2 society are capable of crafting; altering found objects into tools intended for specific uses. They are also more intellectually advanced, capable of complex problem-solving, abstract reasoning, foresight, and more complex communication. They may be on the cusp of an agricultural revolution.

A New Caledonian crow uses a cut leaf as a tool to forage for insects (photograph by Gavin Hunt)

Type 1 Societies

Type-1 societies are marked by the use of tools and/or language, albeit usually in a limited form. Other than this, they remain indistinguishable from animals.

A wild dolphin carrying a sponge to use for foraging. (photograph by Ewa Krzyszczyk)

Measuring Societal Levels

I've been looking for a system of classifying different societies. This ended up being a lens through which I (and hopefully others) can examine other science fiction, discuss actual real-world history, and maybe even a tool for other writers wanting to correct/rationalize/subvert some of the tropes that tend to creep into sci-fi (like single-industry planets, alien bazaars, casual space-travel, the cyberpunk/space-opera divide, etc).

The Kardashev Scale is so vague as to be useless and doesn't really scale down (without needing multiple decimal places), and the Three Age system doesn't really scale up. Neither of them gives a handy way to know just what goes on in any of the societies they "describe," or what kind of challenges each society might face.

Hive Minds

As part of a side-project I created for myself, I've been looking through various sci-fi representations of aliens, and I've noticed that when writers talk about hive minds, they seem to describe several different things. Being me, I wanted to see if I could categorize them in any useful way (if nothing else, it makes for interesting analysis).

I'm obviously missing a few (and some are ambiguous), so feel free to argue and make additions.

Well, here I am.

I wonder where this wire goes.