In this comment piece, Guardian columnist Emma Brockes mocks Elon Musk's enthusiasm for the "Kardashev scale", a 1964 concept devised by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev to rank civilisations by their ability to harness energy. Musk has cited it as justification for moving energy production and datacentres "off-planet" via space infrastructure, which Brockes frames as the latest example of a tech billionaire proposing grandiose, unproven fixes to intractable problems rather than engaging with more mundane, practical solutions such as taxation or established policy.

Brockes situates Musk's idea alongside past billionaire interventions she considers failures, including Jeff Bezos's preschool venture, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's schools initiative, and Steve Jobs's rejection of conventional cancer treatment in favour of holistic remedies after his 2003 diagnosis. The Kardashev scale itself ranges from "type I" (a civilisation controlling its planet's weather and solar energy, a level humanity has not reached) up to theoretical "type III", "IV" and "V" civilisations harnessing galactic, universal or multiverse energy, and Brockes argues its appeal to Silicon Valley lies in nostalgic, sci-fi-flavoured futurism rather than practical credibility.