Interstellar Civilization Thought Experiment: SAE-1 to SAE-4 Civilization Levels and the Group Dimension / 星际文明思想实验:SAE-1到SAE-4文明级别与群体维度展开

Full bilingual text and framework available at self-as-an-end.net An independent thought experiment inspired by the Kardashev Scale (1964), proposing a subject-based civilization classification (SAE-1 to SAE-4) as an alternative to energy-based classification. Starting from the SAE framework's concept of completed individual subjects (16DD), the paper derives a four-beat group cycle (scatter → direction emergence → unilateral non-doubt → bilateral non-doubt) that repeats at progressively larger scales: planetary (SAE-1), stellar (SAE-2), stellar-system (SAE-3), and galactic (SAE-4). Key contributions include: (1) the concept of "feedback horizon" determining whether civilizations proceed in forward order (collaborate then trust) or reverse order (trust then collaborate); (2) identification of a missing stellar-system level (SAE-3) in the Kardashev Scale, necessitated by the qualitative shift in light-speed communication delay; (3) the positive cycle between remainder unfolding and energy development; (4) AI as a "cognitive wheel" — not a subject, but a tool that amplifies subject capacity across civilization levels; (5) 13DD as the critical bottleneck in civilization development, reframing the Fermi Paradox. Bilingual: Chinese as authoritative text, English as rewrite. Firewall: this paper is standalone; any falsification does not affect other SAE papers. Keywords: Self-as-an-End, SAE framework, Kardashev Scale, civilization classification, interstellar civilization, group subjectivity, non-doubt, communication delay, feedback horizon, Fermi Paradox, AI, remainder, thought experiment License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Resource type: Preprint Language: Bilingual (Chinese / English) Related identifiers (references): DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18528813 (SAE Paper 1) — isSupplementTo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18666645 (SAE Paper 2) — isSupplementTo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18727327 (SAE Paper 3) — isSupplementTo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18842450 (Methodology) — isSupplementTo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18829136 (AI Consciousness) — isSupplementTo