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What can technology do?

Status labels belong to this site’s model. Open each card to understand its limits and any supporting source.

12Things to exploreA checklist of capabilities.
TodayExisting capabilitiesRead the status and evidence.
FutureGoals and possibilitiesSome ideas are still speculative.
12 TECHNOLOGIES & INSTITUTIONS

The Galactic technology checklist

mostlyGalactic

Global knowledge network

What this means

Wikipedia holds 60M+ articles; language models support search and synthesis, with reliability limits.

earlyGalactic

Societal forecasting

What this means

Prediction markets, Metaculus forecasters and social simulation; no laws of mass human behavior with error bars.

partialGalactic

Civilization modeling systems

What this means

Civilization dashboards and simulation models exist; reliable millennium-scale prediction does not. This site uses a dated snapshot.

earlyGalactic

Advanced autonomous robot

What this means

Humanoids are in pilots; reliable autonomous stewardship over long horizons remains speculative.

noneGalactic

Speculative faster-than-light travel

No FTL; Alcubierre-class concepts need negative energy.

earlyGalactic

Miniaturized atomic power

What this means

Small modular reactors and fusion ignition; nothing pocket-sized.

noneGalactic

Personal force shield

What this means

No practical energy barrier; directed-energy weapons exist, shields do not.

partialGalactic

Planet-wide city

What this means

58% of humanity is urban; megacities of 30M+; no planet-wide city.

noneGalactic

Galactic civilization

What this means

One inhabited world; permanent presence off-Earth is 11 people.

partialGalactic

Interactive knowledge archive

What this means

Interactive archives and AI avatars exist; reliable preservation and contextual interpretation over millennia remain speculative.

noneGalactic

Collective planetary intelligence

What this means

A planetary shared mind; the internet is a proto-network, not consciousness.

noneGalactic

Speculative direct neural communication

What this means

No brain-to-brain influence; BCIs read 27 patients' motor intent, one way.

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New here? What the labels mean

Reported fact

A number from a named source. Check when, where and what it measures.

Model or score

A way to compare things using chosen rules. Different rules can give different scores.

Future goal or scenario

Something we hope to achieve, or imagine might happen. It is not a measured fact.

Milestone
An important step toward a goal.
Indicator
A measurement that helps us understand something.
Dependency
Something that may need help from something else.
Biodiversity
The variety of living things.
GW
Gigawatts: a unit of power. Capacity is what equipment can produce at its rated output.