A symbol of “long-term thinking”: scientists are building a giant clock that will run for 10 thousand years. years
The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, together with a group of like-minded people, is building a giant clock that is designed to last 10,000 years. They want to make this project a symbol of “long-term thinking” and inspire people to think beyond the limited time of their lives.
The idea of a 10,000-year clock is credited to computer scientist Danny Hillis, who first came up with the concept in the 1980s. In an interview with WIRED magazine in 1995, Hillis explained his idea: “I want to create a clock that gives a signal once a year. The hand for the century moves once every 100 years, and the cuckoo crows for the millennium… If I hurry, I will have the opportunity to see the cuckoo caw for the first time.”
This idea did not remain just a dream. To bring the idea to life, Hillis created a community with Stuart Brand and founded the Long Now Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote “long-term thinking.” The project received support from Jeff Bezos, who reportedly invested $42 million in the construction of this huge clock.
“Civilization is now focused on excessively short attention spans […] We need a correction to balance this myopic attitude,” Brand said, explaining the philosophy of the project.
The 10,000-year clock will be “hundreds of feet tall,” but the specific dimensions have not yet been determined, and it is located deep in the mountains of West Texas. The project involves the creation of dozens of huge dials designed for durability, as well as a sound generation mechanism developed by the famous musician Brian Eno.
The installation of the clock began in 2018 (or “02018” as it is referred to by the Long Now Foundation). However, the preparatory work, including the excavation of the clock site, began much earlier. In 2012, Bezos announced the completion of vertical drilling of the 152-meter (500-foot) deep mine.
According to the project website, the exact date of completion has not yet been determined. However, when assessing millennial periods, there is no hurry. A smaller prototype of the watch is already on display at the Science Museum in London.
The 10,000-year clock project has its critics. Some see it as a manifestation of resource waste, marked by Silicon Valley’s naivete and excessive wealth. In 2020, WIRED, which held the first public presentation of the watch, published an article titled “10,000-Year Clock is a Waste of Time,” in which it denounced the project as a “Gilded Age distraction.”
