Tags
Aging, Books, Clock of The Long Now, Life, Long Now Foundation, Numbers, Passage of time, Stewart Brand, Time
Although I have found it challenging to update my blog once a week, I will now aim for Wednesday and Saturday updates…
I can’t believe I’m almost at the end of my 300-day journey.
I am a bit panicked about it, as I haven’t completely reached some of the goals I had originally set out to achieve in this timeframe.
We put a lot of faith in numbers and the associated passage of time, watching it, obsessively counting, and celebrating birthdays, weight loss, salary increases, stock prices, growing retirement savings, anniversaries of all sorts….
Other types of numbers are more likely to disappoint…
In the end, it’s a lot of hype over something that is just a number. 
However, I still find numbers fascinating all the same.
I hit a new number on the scale today, one which I haven’t seen in quite a while, so I am in a very good mood and it also made me think about what other numbers have become important to me and why.
My husband turned 50 last year, and ever since last summer, I have noticed a big difference in his mental attitude and outlook. His goals are bigger, his focus more intense, with a desire to do more and see more, be more, and to accomplish more…
I’ve always been this way, and it didn’t take ME turning 50 to suddenly become more inspired. (That’s still a few years away yet. But hey, we’re all inspired differently.)
There is an interesting and different time and number concept being worked on by a non-profit group called “The Long Now Foundation“. I was first introduced to their story in a second-hand book which I stumbled upon a few years ago called “The Clock of The Long Now” by Stewart Brand…
Cover via Amazon
The gist of this group’s endeavour is to build a clock that will keep time for the next 10 000 years. It will tick once per year, with a century hand that will move once every hundred years, and the chime will occur on the millenium – an icon for long-term thinking and an antidote to the short-lived and fast-paced life that surrounds us.
The Long Now Foundation is making strides towards making the clock a reality, building it within a mountain (!) in South Dakota, and depending on inspired and energetic visitors over time to make the long trek to and inside the mountain to keep the clock’s timepiece updated to then display the current day.
“The Clock is designed to run for 10,000 years even if no one ever visits (although it would not display the correct time till someone visited). If there is no attention for long periods of time the Clock uses the energy captured by changes in the temperature between day and night on the mountain top above to power its time-keeping apparatus… It is the world’s slowest computer.”
Made primarily of marine-grade 316 stainless steel, with some ceramic and stone parts, the clock is an engineering miracle. If you want to geek out on the construction details, which alone are fascinating, visit the website longnow.org.
Why 10 000 years? “Ten thousand years is about the age of civilization, so a 10K-year Clock would measure out a future of civilization equal to its past. That assumes we are in the middle of whatever journey we are on – an implicit statement of optimism.
And I thought 300 days was long!
What’s your number? DO you have the time?
And what do you want to do with it?
Whether we wake or we sleep,
Whether we carol or weep,
The Sun with his Planets in chime,
Marketh the going of Time.
~Edward Fitzgerald
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Related articles
- 10,000 Year, Subterranean Clock Will Transform Our View of Time and Technology (treehugger.com)
- The 10,000 Year Clock: Long-Term Thinking Is Good (moralmindfield.wordpress.com)
