The 10,000 Year Clock
optimism or rich narcissism?
I was going to do this later but I just accidentally sent another essay which had “10000 Clock” in its title. Now I feel I gotta rush this out! Forced mediocrity. Forced by myself!
The 10,000 Year Clock
An organization called “The Long Now” is building a clock in a mountain in West Texas designed to last 10,000 years. It’s part of their mission to be optimistic about the future. To build a 10000 year clock is to assume humanity will last that long. It also assumes future generations will take care of the clock.
The co-founder (sole founder?) of Wired Magazine named Kevin Kelly is one of the folks behind this. So is (yawn) Jeff Bezos.
Is this a meaningful work of art or just some old rich guys jerking themselves off? I suppose both.
Thinking about the future — the far future — is soothing to me, though. Maybe I’m a old rich guy at heart!
The website for the clock explains the engineering principles: bronze age technology, parts that are easy to build and replace, operation instructions evident for anyone investigating. It presumes non-hostile investigation from future generations. I dig it.
It also reminds me of Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” novels where “psychohistorians” (who use math to predict the future) construct two super libraries designed to survive the coming dark ages. I guess that’s more bleak than the 10000 Year Clock.
In the footer of the 10,000 Clock web page there is an item in the menu that says “10,000 Clocks.” As if there’s gonna be a bunch?