Engineering projects that dwarf the imagination, most megascale
projects would cause the average left-wing environmentalist to
run screaming in terror. Forget about building a dam that may
flood wetlands--there have been proposals floated1 for the construction
of a 20 mile high wall around Florida to deflect hurricanes from population
centers.
Some commonly mentioned megascale projects are:
- Terraforming
- Alter another world to more closely match our needs.
In principle it's no different than building a house or stitching
animal skins together to make a blanket; in practice it probably can
only be called an environmental nightmare and an ethical dilemma of
immense proportion. Available to late type 0 civilizations (such as ours).
- Space Elevator
- A 20,000 mile high cable with a large asteroid hooked onto the
far end to act as a counterweight. Almost certainly available to
type I civilizations, probably not available to
late type 0s.
- Dyson Sphere
- A shell made up of billions of floating islands of matter surrounding
a star in all dimensions. This configuration allows a civilization to
trap something very close to the complete energy output of its primary.
Available to type II civilizations.
- Stellar Husbandry
- Treating stars as we presently treat plants. Probably not available to
any civilization short of a late type II.
- Jupiter Brain
- An "individual" whose computational structure requires a
computer with the mass of Jupiter. Such a creature would
be of a complexity so vastly greater than that of a human
that it is hard to comprehend. Available to advanced type IIIs.
1- Where "floated" is taken in the same sense that proposals for the
construction of a Dyson sphere have been floated.