The Yatima Scale: A New Measure of Civilizations — Measuring Depth of Interaction, Not Energy Consumption

Speculative essay proposing a formal alternative to the Kardashev Scale. The Yatima Scale measures civilizations by depth of interaction with matter, not energy consumption. Building on Barrow (1998), Sagan (1973), and Smart (2012), it introduces a Bekenstein-bounded ratio (ηY = Iexploited / IBekenstein) ranging from 0 to 1, derives four levels of civilizational depth (chemical, nuclear, fundamental, entanglement), and shows that three independent formalisms converge on the same hierarchy. The framework predicts that advanced civilizations become thermodynamically invisible, offering a physics-based resolution to the Fermi Paradox.