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Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist

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arxiv 1604.07844 v1 pith:KHELA5MS submitted 2016-04-26 astro-ph.IM astro-ph.GAphysics.pop-ph

classification astro-ph.IMastro-ph.GAphysics.pop-ph
keywords societiestypeblackboxesgalaxiesblackboxgalaxyargueclusters
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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[Abridged] Whether technological societies remain small and planet-bound like our own, or ultimately span across galaxies is an open question in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Societies that engineer on a galactic scale are classified as Type III on Kardashev's scale. I argue that Type III societies can take the form of blackboxes, entire galaxies veiled in an opaque screen. A blackbox has a temperature that is just above that of the cosmic microwave background. The screen can be made from artificial dust pervading the galaxy. I show that there is enough material in galaxies to build blackboxes if the dust is fashioned into dipole antennas. The thermal emission of a blackbox makes it a bright microwave source. I examine the Planck Catalog of Compact Sources to constrain the abundance of blackboxes. None of the 100 GHz sources has the spectrum expected of a blackbox. The null result rules out shrouded galaxy clusters out to z ~ 1 and shrouded Milky Ways out to (comoving) 700 Mpc. The reach of the results includes 3 million galaxies containing an estimated 300 quadrillion terrestrial planets, as well as tens of thousands of galaxy clusters. Combined with the null results from other searches for Type III societies, I conclude that they are so rare that they basically do not exist within the observable Universe. A hypothesis of "Cosmic Pessimism" is discussed, in which we are alone, our long-term chances for survival are slim, and if we do survive, our future history will be checkered. Our loneliness is suggested by the lack of Type III societies. I discuss the remaining forms of Type III societies not yet well constrained by observation. I argue that the ease of building blackboxes on planetary and Solar System scales may lead, within a few centuries, to environmental catastrophes vastly more devastating than anything we are doing now, boding ill for us.

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Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. OpenAlex reports about 11 citations worldwide. Full citation record

  1. Micron-Scale Technosignatures: How a Cubic Metre of Lunar Regolith May Begin to Constrain the Number of Past Technological Civilisations in the Galaxy

    astro-ph.EP 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 8.0 of 10

    Null detection of 0.3-micron artificial grains in 1 m³ lunar regolith excludes Solar-type stars dispersing more than ~0.09 Earth masses of long-lived technomaterial over Galactic history.

  2. Shadows of Giants: Constraints on Stupendously Large Black Holes from Negative Sources against the Cosmic Microwave Background

    astro-ph.CO 2026-02 unverdicted novelty 7.0 of 10

    Stupendously large black holes cast shadows on the CMB that rule out masses above 10^17 solar masses within the last scattering surface and limit their density parameter to below 10^-5 for masses 10^15 to 10^18 solar masses.

  3. Dust to Dust: Prospects for Passive Technosignatures as Relics of ETI

    astro-ph.IM 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0 of 10

    Discusses prospects for detecting passive technosignatures like specular reflections, lens flares, and dust from collisional cascades as relics of past ETI.

  4. WISE/CatWISE Constraints on Dysonian Waste-Heat Technosignatures in Nearby Galaxies

    astro-ph.GA 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 4.0 of 10

    WISE data yield upper limits showing that no more than about 0.016% of nearby galaxies can host KIII-scale systems reprocessing at least 21% of a Milky Way-like stellar luminosity into 300 K waste heat.

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