Scale and Density of Technology

When considering levels or grades of technology, it is important to distinguish between four things: scale, technology, devices, and intelligences; for example nanoscale, nanotech, nanomachines (or nanodevices or nanites), and nanolects. Nanomachines do not have to be nanoscale; they may simply be microscale machines that can manipulate nanoscale objects. Nanomachines are built of nanoscale elements (atoms or molecules) but may be microscale (or very large nanoscale), and/or can possibly affect or study things at the picoscale or even femtoscale. The same ambiguity applies with things at any scale

With this in mind, we can review the various technological and information-density scales.

Macroscale civilisations control structures and energy using macroscopic (on the order of meters to millimeters and less) tools. This is where naturally evolved civilisations begin. The emphasis is on bulk and quantity. Energy is produced by wasteful use of organic matter (e.g. wood) fossil fuels (hydrocarbons - coal, petroleum, natural gas), by nuclear fission (with its dangerous environmental consequences), and, on some neoprimitivist worlds, by natural (renewable) sources like wind, wave and tide motion. Macroscale civilisations are almost always bound to a planet, either a world that has not yet developed space flight or one that has sunk back into barbarism or neoprimitivism. It is not economical to colonise even a local solar system without some basic nanotech for ultra-light ultra-strong building materials.

Examples: Industrial Age Old Earth; some Caretaker God and primitivist Utopia Sphere protectorates

Microscale civilisations control structures and energy using microscopic (on the order of micrometers and less) tools, e.g. optical and x-ray lithographic integrated circuits, and genetic engineering. The emphasis is on information networks, and on "smart technology" of using machinery in a more precise and qualitative manner, and on small is better. Energy is produced using organic and/or fossil fuels in conjunction with renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, solar or geothermal power, by fuel cells, and, if the technology is there, nuclear fusion. There may be some basic nanotech, usually crude microscale mass-production of circuitry and building materials, almost always using organic or quasi-organic materials. Microscale civilisations may have very basic space flight and established bases in orbit or on some of the nearer planets and moons, although generally unmanned probes are widely used. At this point a Singularity may occur and AIs attain self-consciousness.

Example: Information Age Old Earth, some Caretaker God and primitivist Utopia Sphere protectorates

Nanoscale civilisations control matter using nanotechnology, achieving atomic precision. Nanoassemblers, customized materials, molecular computers, self-replicating machines and megastructures become possible. Fusion power, large scale solar collectors and antimatter production are possible. Uploading minds into computers becomes feasible, as well as hyperturing and superturing AIs (archailects). Most of the civilisations of the post-Federation and Empires era Inner Sphere, and many Outer Volume and Periphery region civilisations were or are at this ceiling. However, very few employ complete nanotech; those that do tend to make ascension or transition to posthumanism and beyond fairly quickly. Solidstate civilisations and empires like the Efficiency Maximization Paradigm are good examples of integral nanotech civilizations. More common are the long-lived and quite stable hybrid microscale and nanoscale civilisations (e.g. late Interplanetary era and First Federation, as well as the bulk of lesser civilisations in less connected Inner Sphere worlds, demopolies, and habitats, the Intermediate Regions, and the Outer Volumes).

Picoscale civilisations control matter using picotechnology working with subatomic particles and quantum field events. Picotech is often embedded in a nanotech support structure. GUT-drive and GUT-reactors, drive sails, artificial elements, neutronium and exotic matter production (enabling maintaining of stable reactionless drive and artificial wormholes) are possible. The AIs and transapients of this level are often several Singularities above the nanotech AIs. Nevertheless picotech remains expensive and energy hungry. Many advanced civilisations use hybrid pico-nanotech devices. Most of the central civilisation active in the Inner Sphere are hybrid picotech, nanotech, and advanced microtech level.

Femtoscale civilisations use femtotech to control matter on the subatomic level, able to construct structures made of quarks, quantum fields and other exotica. Quarkonium, femtomachines, and stellar core engineering are possible. Due to the enormous speed of computation in femtoscale, AIs are several singularity orders of magnitude above picotech intelligences, and sometimes attain godlike status. The energy requirements are mind-boggling.

Hypofemtoscale civilisations use hypofemtotech to control quantum phenomena on the level of superstrings, gluons, and even more strange quantum particles. Energy is easily produced by matter-energy conversion through micro-singularities. Due to the enormous speed of computation in hypofemtoscale, intelligences are of such abstract nature as to be inconceivable to beings of lower singularity levels. Macroscale devices based on hypofemtotech principles are typically clarketechian in nature. In known space there are no more than three dozen large-scale integral megascale femtotech AIs, these are the sephirotic gods and other equivalent aioids.

Planckscale civilisations control reality on the quantum gravity level, able to produce spacetime engineering, artificial gravity, micro- or macro-black holes, artificial wormholes, baby universes, closed timelike loops and exotic spacetime topologies. Planckscale civilisations and aioids are rarely accessible for less developed civilisations and often depart for abstract spaces.

The following table presents a simplistic framework for the various aspects of technological, depending on scale/density.