Clock of the Long Now
The Clock of the Long Now, also called the 10,000-year clock, is a proposed mechanical clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years. The project to build it is part of the Long Now Foundation.
The project was conceived by Danny Hillis in 1986. The first prototype of the clock began working on December 31, 1999, just in time to display the transition to the year 2000. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the date indicator changed from 01999 to 02000, and the chime struck twice. The two-meter prototype is on display at the Science Museum in London.
As of December 2007, two more recent prototypes are on display at The Long Now Museum & Store at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.
The manufacture and site construction of the first full-scale prototype clock is being funded by Jeff Bezos, who has donated $42 million, and is located on land he owns in Texas. The final clock will be built near Ely, Nevada.
Purpose
The clock is one of several projects through which the foundation intends to promote long-term thinking. In the words of Stewart Brand, a founding board member of the foundation, "Such a clock, if sufficiently impressive and well-engineered, would embody deep time for people. It should be charismatic to visit, interesting to think about, and famous enough to become iconic in the public discourse. Ideally, it would do for thinking about time what the photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment. Such icons reframe the way people think."
The Long Now
The Long Now may refer to:
The Long Now (album)
The Long Now is the debut studio album by Australian indie rock band Children Collide. The album was produced by David Sardy, and was released by Universal in Australia on 11 October 2008. The Special Collector's Edition of the album features a circle on the cover with a sticker stating: "Scratch the circle to reveal 1 of 3 cover versions."
Track listing
Track Information
The song Skeleton Dance was used in the soundtracks of video games FIFA 10 and NBA 2K11.
Personnel
Charts
Long Now Foundation
The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, is a public, non-profit organization based in San Francisco that seeks to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution. It aims to provide a counterpoint to what it views as today's "faster/cheaper" mindset and to promote "slower/better" thinking. The Long Now Foundation hopes to "creatively foster responsibility" in the framework of the next 10,000 years, and so uses 5-digit dates to address the Year 10,000 problem (e.g., by writing "02016" rather than "2016").
Inspiration
Projects
The Foundation has several ongoing projects, including a 10,000-year clock known as the Clock of the Long Now, the Rosetta Project, the Long Bet Project, the open source Timeline Tool (also known as Longviewer), the Long Server and a monthly seminar series.
Clock of the Long Now
The purpose of the Clock of the Long Now is to construct a timepiece that will operate with minimum human intervention for ten millennia. It is to be constructed of durable materials, to be easy to repair, and to be made of largely valueless materials in case knowledge of the clock is lost or it is deemed to be of no value to an individual or possible future civilization; in this way it is hoped that the Clock will not be looted or destroyed. Its power source (or sources) should be renewable but similarly unlootable. A prototype of a potential final clock candidate was activated on December 31, 1999, and is currently on display at the Science Museum at London. The Foundation hopes to construct the finished Clock at Mount Washington south of Great Basin National Park near Ely, Nevada.
Podcasts:
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by Mr. Lif
The Now
by: Mr. Lif[Verse 1]
Daddy's got a new life now
A new daughter and a new male child
A new swagger wid some real style
New car new house brand new spouse
Little shitty dog named Pouts wid smile on his mouth
We'll be straight up we're forgotten cause developed a plan
Once the monkey takes some time to hang with his own fam
Hap' and gay to let ya know he still cares and such
Ya won't grow apart too much from bein' outta touch
But he wasn't there for him on the daily ghetto basis
In order to drop jewels I stay clear of the racists
Heavy promises became weightless
Sincerity became faintless
He's praying for a Santa A-list
Time is passin' by yet his scars remain ageless
He called him on the phone to say pop's
This'll take a minute of ya time
But his wishes were divined
By the disenchanted tone at the end of the line, hang up
He tried to look strong in front of mom back up
John stop lookin' forward to the day you gonna see him on
Dry ya eye to eye and you'll receive an embrace
From a lost heart that's pumpin' blood up to a guilty face
He's gonna try to find ways to make up for the last twenty nine days
Or was it thirty, I think he heard me
In situations like this ya speech becomes wordy
He's got a hundred million ways to tell me not to worry
But this time I wasn't hangin' on his every sentence
Ears crippled by the pain and negligence so was the tendence
He spoke I couldn't hear a word I zoned into black I observed
My only thoughts were missin' out on love that I deserved
Tryin' to convince myself I'm weak within the mental
The silence breaks because your father's guidance is essential
He's lookin' down with a smile sayin' that the future will be great
I don't see that dad, but what about the now?
Johnny come and leave ya dad alone now
Yeh it's just you and momma now
Stop the cryin' now, just try to smile now
Try to think of other things now
Momma's got another date now
You can get through all the anger and the hate now
Calm down and wipe ya face now
I know it seems to be hard
but I promise you we'll make it through somehow
[scratching] "And now"
[Verse 2]
Little girl their firstborn their sunshine
Never been a reader wrong get it right one time
Here's how it goes, she's off to school an' dancin' on her toes
At an hour long ballet class then on to the piano
Two hours of repetition, emulatin' class with music compositions
Do your homework with precision
By nine-o-clock she collapses in a heat of dizziness
But sleep so tomorrow you'll repeat ya busi-ness
She got straight A's a stroke of her stress
Throughout her maydays but drawn up out the melees
Her mom and dad tryna blame each other different ways she stop and gaze
Thinkin' how it drives her crazy when their voices raised
This the web that ruins most of her days
From her perfection was expected
an exec that workin' hard without receivin' any raise
At night she cries when she lays
Then she wakes up, washes up smiles and goes along like it's okay
On to high school, there's more intensity within her cycle
She's makin' all the guys drool
Here comes the extra tight rules
No late, not with college on the plate
Practice hard, study hard stay in focus keep ya head straight
Now she's a nervouse wreck, lookin' to collect
Anything that she can smoke swallow drink or inject
When she was mentally gone she went to the prom
Had dates and actually could sit down
discuss relationships with her mom
But tell me how much pressure can a person take
Before they break and maybe crush this on a large enough escape
So one night she turned in but stayed up late
At her desk with a single piece of paper and a papermate
Here's mom a federal team waked at daybreak
What she saw made her knees shake the death of dear Kate
The note said here's the future of your fuckin' perfect child
Please be proud I'm livin' for the now
Do your work, clean your room now
Take the makeup off your face now
Eat your dinner now, get off the phone now
Leave the boys alone now
Saturday night, you stayin' home now
Go to your room and sit alone now
Katie with the needle how
Look baby momma needs you now
Breathe now, God why did this have to be now