Here’s a little Xmas treat for our readers: Visual artist Alex Jay Brady shared this animated clip on Twitter (X) recently. It is inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s short story The Star, which is among my favorite things he ever wrote.
As you can see, Brady brilliantly captured what a ‘type 2’ civilization would look like. According to the Kardashev scale, type 2 civilizations would be able to harness the entire energy output of their home star, making them thousands of years more advanced than our own civilization, which hasn’t even reached the level of ‘type 1’ yet —the capacity to harness all the energy output of our home planet.
But of course, all that power and knowledge does not prevent this hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization to become extinct once their star turns into a supernova and explodes. But that’s the point in Clarke’s story: to accept the fact that all things in the universe (including it) are destined to die one day. But the end of a cycle permits the beginning of a new one, which is something anybody regardless of their religious beliefs (or lack thereof) can celebrate during this time of the year.
Here is another beautiful adaptation of The Star, produced for the 80’s remake of the TV show The Twilight Zone. I remember watching this as a kid and it moved me to tears:
On behalf of The Daily Grail, Merry Christmas to you all 🙂
