We Imagine Godlike Civilizations the Wrong Way

We imagine advanced alien civilizations building gigantic spaceships, Dyson spheres and empires spanning entire galaxies. But what if true technological progress goes in exactly the opposite direction? Not outward into space, but deeper and deeper into the smallest layers of reality?

What is the Barrow Scale? How powerful could a civilization become by mastering DNA, and even fundamental particles, and could the universe already be filled with godlike civilizations hiding in plain sight?