[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagine a distant future when humans\Nreach beyond our pale blue dot,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,forge cities on planets thousands of\Nlight-years away,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and maintain a galactic web of trade\Nand transport.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What would it take for our civilization\Nto make that leap?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are many things to consider—\Nhow would we communicate?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What might a galactic government\Nlook like?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of the most fundamental of\Nall:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where would we get enough energy\Nto power that civilization—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its industry, its terraforming\Noperations, and its starships?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An astronomer named Nikolai Kardashev\Nproposed a scale
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to quantify an evolving civilization’s \Nincreasing energy needs.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the first evolutionary stage, which \Nwe’re currently in,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,planet-based fuel sources like fossil \Nfuels,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,solar panels and nuclear power plants
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are probably enough to settle other \Nplanets inside our own solar system,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but not much beyond that.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For a civilization on the third and final \Nstage, expansion on a galactic scale
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would require about 100 billion\Ntimes more energy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the full 385 yotta joules our sun \Nreleases every second.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Barring a breakthrough in exotic physics,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there’s only one energy source that could\Nsuffice: a supermassive black hole.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s counterintuitive to think of black\Nholes as energy sources,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that’s exactly what they are, \Nthanks to their accretion disks:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,circular, flat structures formed by matter\Nfalling into the event horizon.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because of conservation of angular \Nmomentum,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,particles there don’t just plummet \Nstraight into the black hole.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead, they slowly spiral.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Due to the intense gravitational field \Nof the black hole,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these particles convert their potential\Nenergy to kinetic energy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as they inch closer to the event horizon.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Particle interactions allow for this kinetic\Nenergy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be radiated out into space at an \Nastonishing matter-to-energy efficiency:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,6% for non-rotating black holes, and \Nup to 32% for rotating ones.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This drastically outshines\Nnuclear fission,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,currently the most efficient widely \Navailable mechanism
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to extract energy from mass.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fission converts just 0.08% of a\NUranium atom into energy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The key to harnessing this power \Nmay lie in a structure
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,devised by physicist Freeman Dyson,\Nknown as the Dyson sphere.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the 1960s, Dyson proposed that an \Nadvanced planetary civilization
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could engineer an artificial sphere \Naround their main star,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,capturing all of its radiated energy to \Nsatisfy their needs.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A similar, though vastly more complicated\Ndesign
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could theoretically be applied to \Nblack holes.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In order to produce energy, black holes\Nneed to be continuously fed –
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we wouldn’t want to fully cover it \Nwith a sphere.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even if we did, the plasma jets that shoot\Nfrom the poles
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of many supermassive black holes
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would blow any structure in\Ntheir way to smithereens.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So instead, we might design a sort of\NDyson ring,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made of massive, remotely\Ncontrolled collectors.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They’d swarm in an orbit around\Na black hole,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perhaps on the plane of its\Naccretion disk, but farther out.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These devices could use mirror-like\Npanels
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to transmit the collected energy\Nto a powerplant,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or a battery for storage.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We’d need to ensure that these collectors\Nare built at just the right radius:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,too close and they’d melt from\Nthe radiated energy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Too far, and they’d only collect a tiny \Nfraction of the available energy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and might be disrupted by stars orbiting\Nthe black hole.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We would likely need several Earths\Nworth of highly reflective material
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like hematite to construct\Nthe full system––
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,plus a few more dismantled planets\Nto make a legion of construction robots.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once built, the Dyson ring would be\Na technological masterpiece,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,powering a civilization spread\Nacross every arm of a galaxy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This all may seem like wild speculation.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But even now, in our\Ncurrent energy crisis,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we’re confronted by the limited\Nresources of our planet.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,New ways of sustainable energy\Nproduction will always be needed,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially as humanity works towards \Nhe survival
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and technological progress of our species.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps there’s already a civilization\Nout there
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that has conquered these\Nastronomical giants.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We may even be able to tell by seeing the\Nlight from their black hole periodically dim
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as pieces of the Dyson ring pass between\Nus and them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or maybe these superstructures are \Nfated to remain in the realm of theory.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only time––and our scientific\Ningenuity––will tell.