Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Long Now Foundation
The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, is an American non-profit organization based in San Francisco that seeks to start and promote a 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. In a manner somewhat similar to the Holocene calendar, the foundation uses 5-digit dates to address the Year 10,000 problem (e.g., by writing the current year "02025" rather than "2025"). The organization's logo is X, a capital X with an overline, a representation of 10,000 in Roman numerals.
The foundation has several ongoing projects, including a 10,000-year clock known as the Clock of the Long Now, a cafe/bar called The Interval, and a popular seminar series, among others.
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 on display at the Science Museum in London. The Foundation is currently building the Clock of the Long Now in Van Horn, Texas.
Opened in June 2014, The Interval is a coffee shop and bar designed as social space in the foundation's Fort Mason facility in San Francisco. The purpose of The Interval is to have a public space where people can come together to discuss ideas and topics related to long-term thinking, as well as provide a venue for a variety of Long Now events. The Interval includes lounge furniture, artifacts from the foundation's projects, a library of the 1000 most important books for restarting civilization in the event of collapse, audio/video equipment, robots, art pieces, and a bar serving tea and coffee during the day, and cocktails during the night. Donors of a certain level can have a flask of locally-made whiskey or gin from St. George's Spirits hanging from the ceiling, with the gin made using juniper berries of the very long-lived bristlecone pine.
In October 2014 The Interval was named by Thrillist as one of the 21 best new bars in America. Coffee blog Sprudge described it as a 'steampunk wonderland'.
In November 2003, The Long Now Foundation began a series of monthly seminars about long-term thinking (SALT) with a lecture by Brian Eno. The seminars are held in the San Francisco Bay Area and have focused on long-term policy and thinking, scenario planning, singularity and the projects of the foundation. The seminars are available for download in various formats from The Long Now Foundation.[non-primary source needed] They are intended to "nudge civilization toward making long-term thinking automatic and common".[non-primary source needed] Topics have included preserving environmental resources, the deep past and deep future of the sciences and the arts, human life extension, the likelihood of an asteroid strike in the future, SETI, and the nature of time.[citation needed]
As of 2014, SFGate and Sprudge have described the seminars (hosted by Stewart Brand) as popular.
As part of the seminar series, there are occasionally debates on areas of long term concern, such as synthetic biology or "historian vs futurist on human progress".
Hub AI
Long Now Foundation AI simulator
(@Long Now Foundation_simulator)
Long Now Foundation
The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, is an American non-profit organization based in San Francisco that seeks to start and promote a 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. In a manner somewhat similar to the Holocene calendar, the foundation uses 5-digit dates to address the Year 10,000 problem (e.g., by writing the current year "02025" rather than "2025"). The organization's logo is X, a capital X with an overline, a representation of 10,000 in Roman numerals.
The foundation has several ongoing projects, including a 10,000-year clock known as the Clock of the Long Now, a cafe/bar called The Interval, and a popular seminar series, among others.
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 on display at the Science Museum in London. The Foundation is currently building the Clock of the Long Now in Van Horn, Texas.
Opened in June 2014, The Interval is a coffee shop and bar designed as social space in the foundation's Fort Mason facility in San Francisco. The purpose of The Interval is to have a public space where people can come together to discuss ideas and topics related to long-term thinking, as well as provide a venue for a variety of Long Now events. The Interval includes lounge furniture, artifacts from the foundation's projects, a library of the 1000 most important books for restarting civilization in the event of collapse, audio/video equipment, robots, art pieces, and a bar serving tea and coffee during the day, and cocktails during the night. Donors of a certain level can have a flask of locally-made whiskey or gin from St. George's Spirits hanging from the ceiling, with the gin made using juniper berries of the very long-lived bristlecone pine.
In October 2014 The Interval was named by Thrillist as one of the 21 best new bars in America. Coffee blog Sprudge described it as a 'steampunk wonderland'.
In November 2003, The Long Now Foundation began a series of monthly seminars about long-term thinking (SALT) with a lecture by Brian Eno. The seminars are held in the San Francisco Bay Area and have focused on long-term policy and thinking, scenario planning, singularity and the projects of the foundation. The seminars are available for download in various formats from The Long Now Foundation.[non-primary source needed] They are intended to "nudge civilization toward making long-term thinking automatic and common".[non-primary source needed] Topics have included preserving environmental resources, the deep past and deep future of the sciences and the arts, human life extension, the likelihood of an asteroid strike in the future, SETI, and the nature of time.[citation needed]
As of 2014, SFGate and Sprudge have described the seminars (hosted by Stewart Brand) as popular.
As part of the seminar series, there are occasionally debates on areas of long term concern, such as synthetic biology or "historian vs futurist on human progress".