Jeff Bezos Shares Video of 10,000-Year Clock Project (cnet.com)

Absolutely necessary? by SEMLogistics · 2018-02-20 08:58 · Score: 1

Just build a 500 foot tall iWatch and get on with it...

Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:11 · Score: 2, Funny

Don't think that'll last 10,000 years.
And apple likely won't replace the battery free of charge.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2018-02-20 09:59 · Score: 1

Bezosymandias.

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Re:Absolutely necessary? by Humbubba · 2018-02-20 10:50 · Score: 3, Informative

Don't know if it will last 10,000 years, but there is the famous Beverly Clock, that has never been manually wound since it was made in 1864. That's only 154 years, so maybe time will tell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Clock
Re:Absolutely necessary? by arglebargle_xiv · 2018-02-20 16:55 · Score: 1

Or you could buy a Jaeger-Lecoultre Atmos du MillÃ©naire, which admittedly will only get you to 3000AD but also costs a helluva lot less than $42M. And you can admire it on your mantlepiece.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by arglebargle_xiv · 2018-02-20 17:14 · Score: 1

Not only that, but the entire country had really only been around for about twenty years when it was created, the clock actually predates the University that houses it. That'd be the equivalent of a clock made in the US in 1600.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Cytotoxic · 2018-02-20 23:16 · Score: 2

Never manually wound.... but has stopped working many times.
It runs off of temperature variations that drive an air cylinder to move, lifting the weights. If there isn't enough energy from these fluctuations, they just let it stop.
So a nice stunt. But not a terribly remarkable clock otherwise.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Humbubba · 2018-02-21 06:11 · Score: 1

Cytotoxic sayd

Never manually wound.... but has stopped working many times.
It runs off of temperature variations that drive an air cylinder to move, lifting the weights. If there isn't enough energy from these fluctuations, they just let it stop.
So a nice stunt. But not a terribly remarkable clock otherwise.
Actually, my stunt is trying to insert pithy idioms about time into the conversation, like 'time will tell', or 'from time to time'.
Although the 'Clock_of_the_Long_Now' is designed to be accurate for at least 10,000 years, it is also designed to be up-gradable, and will need continued care and maintenance. This is why I expect it will stop from time to time, much like the Beverly Clock. BTW, when not hand-wound, the 'Long Now', like the Beverly Clock, will run off of temperature variations, and thus be subject to similar problems. Shouldn't be an issue on Mt. Washington, but you never know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the most admirable things I've ever heard coming from Jeff Bezos, right up there with Blue Origin. He would be the greatest person of all time if he could beat the clock and solve the Anthropocene problem (the 6th Extinction) before our time's up. Frankly, if this big time problem is not dealt with, he's just killing time.

10,000 days by 14erCleaner · 2018-02-20 09:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

I predict that money to guard it will run out in a few decades, after which it will be vandalized and plundered for metal, or occupied by survivalist squatters.

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Re:10,000 days by sinij · 2018-02-20 09:03 · Score: 1

An armored door with radioactive waste signage should be sufficient to keep people out. No need to guard it.
Re:10,000 days by Camel+Pilot · 2018-02-20 09:10 · Score: 3, Funny

Except those looking for Radioactive waste...
Re:10,000 days by sinij · 2018-02-20 09:25 · Score: 1

Those looking for radioactive waste would likely measure radiation levels prior to spending considerable effort hacking at an armored door. Also there are easier way to get it, like from medical devices that are not generally stored behind armored doors.
Re:10,000 days by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:36 · Score: 1

money to guard it will run out in a few decades, after which it will be vandalized and plundered
He should have launched it into interplanetary orbit instead of that stupid car. Nobody can touch it there, except maybe the Ru ... nevermind.

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Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:47 · Score: 1

The Mayans did this, and look how much it fucked with people. I'm down with leaving another practical joke for our future.
Re:10,000 days by gnick · 2018-02-20 09:51 · Score: 1

...instead of that stupid car...
There's no better place to play David Bowie than into a vacuum. And putting "Don't Panic" on the touch display was enough to win me.

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Re:10,000 days by DontBeAMoran · 2018-02-20 09:53 · Score: 1

Jeff Bezos != Elon Musk

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Re:10,000 days by Scorch_Mechanic · 2018-02-20 09:53 · Score: 1

Will it though? This is a fundamentally difficult problem. The cultural meaning of signage and symbolism changes. It may in fact be impossible to put up radiation warning signs retain their meaning for 10,000 years, much less physically last that long. A couple decades ago, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant formed a panel of a bunch of thinkers (Carl Sagan was invited, but could not attend due to a conflict) and asked them to invent radiation warning signage that would last for an arbitrary length of time: 10,000 years.
They were, at best, only partially successful, and the problem of the cultural meaning of symbols changing was never fully addressed.

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Re:10,000 days by nospam007 · 2018-02-20 09:55 · Score: 2

"There's no better place to play David Bowie than into a vacuum. And putting "Don't Panic" on the touch display was enough to win me."
I just hope there's a towel in the glove compartment besides the guide.
Re:10,000 days by evileeyore · 2018-02-20 09:55 · Score: 1

wrong billionaire
Re:10,000 days by glenebob · 2018-02-20 10:16 · Score: 1

I suspect the "weight hanging on a gear" mechanism would operate somewhat less effectively in space.
Re:10,000 days by sheramil · 2018-02-20 10:18 · Score: 1

...and the problem of the cultural meaning of symbols changing was never fully addressed.
I think the cultural meaning of this symbol is pretty obvious. Rich Dude wants some future Percy Bysshe Shelley to write a poem about the ruins of the giant clock he had buried in the mountains, because that's where you put a symbol if you want people to appreciate it.
Rich Dude seriously wants to be remembered? Just give all the money to Brian Eno and ask him to make a few more albums like "Another Green World".
Re:10,000 days by Waffle+Iron · 2018-02-20 10:37 · Score: 1

Then they'd say: "Hmmm.... a radioactive waste sign, but no radiation. Somebody must have been trying to hide something valuable in here. Wilbur, go get the drill bits and a case of dynamite."
Re:10,000 days by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 10:52 · Score: 1

They could make a deal.

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Re:10,000 days by hey! · 2018-02-20 10:53 · Score: 1

Alternatively they could build a sun dial out of masonry, which is a cheap and long-lived material. That would keep time (during the day) as long as the structure existed.
Build it big enough and it could be quite precise, like this one.

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Re:10,000 days by glenebob · 2018-02-20 11:21 · Score: 1

As the weights move outward from center of gravity, the rotation of the assembly will slow down, making the weights "weigh" less, causing the clock to run slower.
In other words, "somewhat less effectively in space".
Re:10,000 days by Dutch+Gun · 2018-02-20 11:40 · Score: 1

Yea, your suffering shall exist no longer; it shall be washed away in Atom's Glow, burned from you in the fire of his brilliance.

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Re:10,000 days by Fencepost · 2018-02-21 11:40 · Score: 1

I'll note that when the initial concept was floated Jeff Bezos was graduating from college and when the first prototype was live Amazon was only 4 years old.

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just a little off
Re:10,000 days by RockDoctor · 2018-03-04 14:30 · Score: 1

A sundial is several minutes out at different times during each day (RMS error). And worse day-by-day throughout the year. The motion of the Sun across the sky is not uniform due to refraction ; the motion of the Sun along the ecliptic is not uniform through the year due to the ellipticity of the Earth's orbit around the sun (183/182 days between solstices ; 186/179 days between equinoxes within year / across New Year); the orbit of the Earth around the Sun does not repeat from year to year (nutation and precession of the equinoxes). Keeping accurate time across millennia is non-trivial.
All of which, the Clock of the Long Now ignores, using a mechanical detector to align the clock's midday with the sun crossing geographical south from the clock's position.

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Wew. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:00 · Score: 5, Funny

When they find this in about 9900 years how many will think it means the world ends soon?

Re:Wew. by The+Grim+Reefer · 2018-02-20 09:45 · Score: 2

Actually I'm thinking that after the fall of civilization there's going to be a relegion start around this thing. The followers of it will go on a holy crusade against those crazy bastards who worship a nuclear warhead. Charlton Heston will become their savior after he detonates the warhead and kills all of those crazy nuke pagans. There'll be some talking monkeys lead by Roddy McDowell and Andy Sirkis will challenge him and win by using the force.
Re:Wew. by gnick · 2018-02-20 09:57 · Score: 1

...how many will think it means the world ends soon?
Why would they design this clock to count down?

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Re:Wew. by jouassou · 2018-02-20 22:23 · Score: 1

I think it was a reference to the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, when people were freaking out over that it probably marked an apocalypse. Their calendar didn't count down either.
Re:Wew. by gnick · 2018-02-21 01:53 · Score: 1

Of course it was. But why would they build this clock with an end? I'd imagine this clock is supposed to last at least 10,000 years, not exactly 10,000 years.

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$42 million by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:02 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock.

Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:14 · Score: 1, Insightful

I get it's his own money, but seriously, he could use that $42 million to give workers earning less then $30K at Amazon a nice bonus.
Who gives a shit about having a clock that lasts 10K years, honestly what the fuck is the point.
Re:$42 million by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:15 · Score: 1

These people are egotists who live in a bubble and think spending $42 million on a clock is a good idea.
Re:$42 million by gtwrek · 2018-02-20 09:34 · Score: 1

Or spending $27 million a year to watch someone throw a ball down a football field...
Or spend $15 million a year to watch a hockey player slap a puck...
Or millions to send a rocket to space, or to the bottom of the oceans.
Or hundreds of thousands to climb a remote mountain peak... ..
I mean if people would only spend their money the way I think they should spend it, the world would just be so much better...
Re:$42 million by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2018-02-20 09:47 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock.
Yeah, but it will be paid in Bitcoin, so it won't really be $42 million dollars.
Future archeologists will determine that it is a fake Rolex bought on Canal Street anyway.

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Re:$42 million by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:48 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock?
Sounds more like a defense contract. "Sure, these dashboard clocks are expensive, but they'll survive the apocalypse." (Sound of check-signing...)

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Re:$42 million by DontBeAMoran · 2018-02-20 09:54 · Score: 1

If you ask me, it's a pretty neat idea, much better than a digital watch.

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Re:$42 million by postbigbang · 2018-02-20 10:13 · Score: 1

C'mon. Imagine the ego involved.
Ok, Tim Cook: you thought the Apple Watch would last. Nyah nyah and effyou.
Tim Cook probably dropped $100M on the Apple Watch. Bezos et al get it for half that price.

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Re:$42 million by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:24 · Score: 2

$77 million a year to keep Trump safe...

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Re:$42 million by Wycliffe · 2018-02-20 11:11 · Score: 1

Or spending $27 million a year to watch someone throw a ball down a football field...
Or spend $15 million a year to watch a hockey player slap a puck...
Or millions to send a rocket to space, or to the bottom of the oceans.
Or hundreds of thousands to climb a remote mountain peak... ..
I mean if people would only spend their money the way I think they should spend it, the world would just be so much better...
The problem is that people aren't really voting for any of this. Each person decides that it's worth their Sunday afternoon to watch football, or that paying Amazon for that toothbrush is a better deal than paying Walmart or that they really want that new phone. Each person spends a small amount of their time or money and this combines to be a significant amount of money at the top. If given the choice, very few people would actually choose to pay a football player $27million but their collective actions means that the team that does nets more money than the team that doesn't.
Re:$42 million by Do+You+Smell+That · 2018-02-20 19:45 · Score: 1

I get it's his own money, but seriously, he could use that $42 million to give workers earning less then $30K at Amazon a nice bonus.
Who gives a shit about having a clock that lasts 10K years, honestly what the fuck is the point.
I 100% get your point, but a thought... were Bezos to take profits (whether via his personal income or directly from AMZN) and give them to employees... his valuation would drop. Part of his wealth valulation (mostly via AMZN ownership) is the calculation that he'll continue his known/predictable compensation policies (not the most employee/contractor friendly..), which would slip if he were shown to be caring for employees over shareholders. Such a move impacts him directly, and limits his piles of '$42 million USDs' that he has to invest.
Again, I get your point, just wanted to note that sometimes markets are designed to react to certain cues, and "gives to employees over wealth-hoarding" is a negative for long-term valuation. There are of course other incentives to consider..

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Re:$42 million by darth.hunterix · 2018-02-20 21:33 · Score: 1

They really pay Mike Pence that kind of money? Sure, government can be wasteful but...

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Live, the Universe, and Everything by WilliamGeorge · 2018-02-20 09:05 · Score: 5, Funny

"How many millions of dollars does it take to build a clock that will keep time for 10,000 years?"

42

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William George

Re:Live, the Universe, and Everything by WilliamGeorge · 2018-02-20 09:06 · Score: 1

*Life
I wish there was an edit button :/

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William George
Re:Live, the Universe, and Everything by wonkey_monkey · 2018-02-20 09:17 · Score: 1

Just like life, then.

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Competing with Elon Musk? by Mirozake · 2018-02-20 09:08 · Score: 1

The competition is on! One guy sends a massive rocket to space with retrievable boosters. The other?... builds a large clock.

Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:44 · Score: 1

To compete, take a different tactic: hide thousands of little long-life clocks all over the planet. At least a few will survive. It's web-scale :-)

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:21 · Score: 1

"Do you think maybe he's compensating for something?" -- Shrek

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Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by sheramil · 2018-02-20 10:27 · Score: 1

The competition is on! One guy sends a massive rocket to space with retrievable boosters. The other?... builds a large clock.
The original plan called for something quite different, but the engineers couldn't quite believe that was what they'd been asked to build. "Just inset an "L" into the proposal. We'll build a giant one of those instead."
Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by kaatochacha · 2018-02-20 10:44 · Score: 1

To be fair, when the got Bezos to pay, he thought it was a ten thousand year Clock, but without the L. Bezos is big on that.

Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Bruce+Perens · 2018-02-20 09:09 · Score: 2

The Long Now Clock could be found by man's successor or people who have survived the fall of civilization. If it's aliens they're thinking of, Elon Musk's car in orbit is a fitting memorial to mankind.

I think the car's cooler and makes me think more of long-term planning.

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Bruce Perens.

Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:27 · Score: 1

Doubt it. The thing is being built at the top of a mountain in the middle of the West Texas desert, in an area with negligible pre-industrial population.
Its own website admits it is difficult to get to even with the aid of cars and planes, which will be gone in 100 years after the Oil Age is over.
Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by drinkypoo · 2018-02-20 11:00 · Score: 1

I think the car's cooler and makes me think more of long-term planning.
The car is probably already damaged beyond reasonable repair, and is now space trash. Long-term planning?

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Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Bruce+Perens · 2018-02-20 11:21 · Score: 1

It's still obviously a car, not a space vehicle, and there it is in space on the end of the second stage. Regardless of the fact that the bearings might not turn any longer, it says something.

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Bruce Perens.
Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by AmiMoJo · 2018-02-20 22:51 · Score: 1

I wonder what prep they did to it. Maybe filled the tyres with something other than air. Presumably removed the battery pack for safety.

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Doesn't make any sense. by Camel+Pilot · 2018-02-20 09:09 · Score: 1

What the hell is the purpose? The say "designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking". Pick up a rock, any rock and identify it and understand the process by which it was formed. There is your icon for long-term thinking.

Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Krishnoid · 2018-02-20 09:22 · Score: 3, Funny

If it also keeps away tigers, I'm in.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:40 · Score: 1

It's a 'symbol' of Jeff Bezos' penis, specifically his inflated idea of how large it is.
(or, perhaps, in compensation for how big it isn't)

Occasionally, our species pleasantly surprises me with it's ingenuity, and how far it's come in it's evolution. This is not one of those times.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2018-02-20 10:03 · Score: 2

What the hell is the purpose?
Some folks can't deal with the fact that they will eventually die, and want to leave a monument behind as a remembrance of their fantastic existence.
Why did Pharaohs build Pyramids . . . ? If the dead Pharaohs could see the dorky tourists visiting their Pyramids, they would be deeply disappointed.
Amazon won't be around in 10,000 years. The Washington Post won't be either.
Dorky alien tourists 10,000 in the future will be gazing at the clock asking themselves, "What fuckwits wasted resources building this thing . . . ?"

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:17 · Score: 1

“I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.” -- Woody Allen

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:20 · Score: 1

The difference between Bezos and Trump is that Bezos pays for his own penis extenders, whereas Trump wants YOU to pay for his (The Wall). I don't have any problem with Bezos doing whatever he wants (legally) with his own money.

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 10:28 · Score: 1

Listen friend: I hate Trump at least as much as the next guy, but your comment is off-topic, and I do have a problem with rich assholes and their Conspicuous Consumption, so as far as I'm concerned I'll damned well tell him where he should be spending his damn money.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Prien715 · 2018-02-20 10:46 · Score: 1

If it also keeps away tigers, I'm in.
Have you seen any tigers in Texas lately (outside a zoo)? It's working even before its built!

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-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Powercntrl · 2018-02-20 15:23 · Score: 1

Some folks can't deal with the fact that they will eventually die, and want to leave a monument behind as a remembrance of their fantastic existence.
Thing is, people are generally remembered best for their contributions to society. You know, things that we give people awards for. You don't necessarily have to be rich to leave the world a better place than you found it.
There's always some richer asshole with a bigger clock.

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by darth.hunterix · 2018-02-20 21:46 · Score: 2

Ok then: try naming three greatest philanthropists in ancient Egypt. Now try naming three Pharaohs buried in a pyramid. Who is remembered better now?

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:18 · Score: 1

I can say whatever I want and there is NOTHING you or anyone else can do about it. So go scream at your monitor and pound your keyboard more. I have no respect for rich assholes who throw their money around on useless stupid things, and I'm FAR from being alone in that sentiment, so how about you bugger off?

Not here by plloi · 2018-02-20 09:10 · Score: 1

there -> http://www.10000yearclock.net/... Nice of the editors to copy-paste but not include the link

Couldn't find a better use for $42 million? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:12 · Score: 1

Starving children in the world and the best one of the richest men in the world could find to use his money on is building a 500 foot tall mechanical penis in a remote mountain. The Mayans managed to tell time without it, why do we need it?

You know what they say by willoughby · 2018-02-20 09:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just take a look at who he gives it to.

Re:What powers it? by tsqr · 2018-02-20 09:22 · Score: 1

Anyone know? I saw no reference to a power source.

You didn't try very hard. From TFA: The clock is powered by a large weight hanging on a gear, built out of materials durable enough to keep time for 10 millennia.

Finally by mlynx · 2018-02-20 09:26 · Score: 1

I remember reading about the idea for a long clock over a decade ago. I'm glad to see someone finally building it. I love the idea of a timepiece that will outlast our civilization.

Gravity by The+Grim+Reefer · 2018-02-20 09:29 · Score: 1

Anyone know? I saw no reference to a power source.

Gravity.

I figured I better put the answer in the subject and first word since it is in TFS

From TFS:

The clock is powered by a large weight hanging on a gear

Re:Gravity by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:33 · Score: 1

So they invented a perpetual motion machine? Pretty cool.
Re:Gravity by naughtynaughty · 2018-02-20 10:29 · Score: 1

It's a 10,000 year clock, not a perpetual clock

Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:33 · Score: 3, Insightful

I like clocks. I like accurate clocks, to be precise. I have several 'Atomic clocks', synchronized to WWVB out of Fort Colins, Colorado every night. I have a GPS receiver connected to my desktop, synching and RTC-clock-frequency adjusting it every minute, so it's never more than 1 second off. I went to a considerable amount of trouble to fine-tune the 32.768kHz crystal oscillator in a kitchen timer I have, that also displays the time of day, so it's down to single-digit PPM accuracy, only gaining a few seconds per week. More than once I've considered building a clock using an expensive low-PPM TCXO oscillator, so I'd have a clock that doesn't need to have it's setting adjusted for a year or more. So you could say I appreciate clocks.

However: this is one of the most wasteful and stupid things I've ever heard of. Only some rich dude(s), with apparently nothing better to do with their money and time, would waste 42 million dollars on some shit like this. How many poor people could benefit from judicious application of $42M? Charities? Development projects? How much would Habitat for Humanity, for instance, be able to accomplish with that much money?

MEMO TO JEFF BEZOS: Instead of lighting $42M on fire for something as fucking stupid and useless as this, how about you find out how many homeless people live within 50 miles of you, and see how many of them you can help get back on their feet again with that money?

Seriously: We, allegedly, are the greatest nation on earth, yet we have a homelessness problem? People going hungry every day? Really?
How about less RICH PEOPLE money spent on stupid excessive hobbies, and more spent on actually SOLVING SOME PROBLEMS.

..and YES, I'm angry on the inside about things like this when I hear about them. What of it?
..and NO, I'm one of the POOR PEOPLE, I can barely afford to take care of myself these days, let alone give money away to anyone else. What of it?

Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

When, in your opinion, are people allowed to do frivolous things they want with their money?
Is the 10k year clock allowed only after bezos solves homelessness?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:46 · Score: 1

"Let them eat cake"
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by fahrbot-bot · 2018-02-20 09:48 · Score: 1

However: this is one of the most wasteful and stupid things I've ever heard of. Only some rich dude(s), with apparently nothing better to do with their money and time, would waste 42 million dollars on some shit like this. How many poor people could benefit from judicious application of $42M? Charities? Development projects? How much would Habitat for Humanity, for instance, be able to accomplish with that much money?
Noting that the recent US Presidential Inaugural events (swearing-in and party) cost between $175M and $200M. The events for Obama and Trump were both in that ballpark, though Trump's was the more expensive.

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Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by beckett · 2018-02-20 10:22 · Score: 1

how about you find out how many homeless people live within 50 miles of you, and see how many of them you can help get back on their feet again with that money?
he did; some of those homeless are amazon warehouse employees. (n.b. if you sleep with your head on a smiling box it cushions the harsh sidewalk.)
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 10:26 · Score: 1

(making an assumption that I don't think that's a stupid waste of money, too)
I very specifically remember thinking a week or two ago that if I was elected POTUS, I wouldn't bother with nonsense like that, and when asked by the Press, I'd tell them "I've got a big job ahead of me, I really don't have time to throw big parties."
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 11:34 · Score: 1

Post from an actual account and maybe I'll take you seriously.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by AlanBDee · 2018-02-20 11:58 · Score: 1

I really wanted to correct you and point out that Jeff Bezos has donated much more then 42 million dollars to charities but it doesn't look like he has. Many other Billionaires have pledged to give away at least half their fortune before they die. Bezos has not: https://givingpledge.org/
Looks like he is a greedy git!
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by rthille · 2018-02-20 12:19 · Score: 1

How much money is wasted on the NFL? NHL?

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Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by rthille · 2018-02-20 12:22 · Score: 2

You can "build low-PPM TCXO oscillators" and you can't find a job that keeps you from being "one of the POOR PEOPLE" in this economy?
WTH?

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Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by RobinH · 2018-02-20 12:36 · Score: 2

Yeah, like those pyramids. Nobody ever benefited from them. Except the bazillion people who benefit from the tourism in Egypt ever year. Also, it's his money. He's American. He can do whatever the heck he wants with it. Last time I drove south along I-75 through Ohio there was a 3-storey tall Jesus standing at the side of the road at a church looking at the highway. Apparently it burned down, so they built it again. People build stupid shit all the time. At least he spent 42 million employing some skilled trades and apparently (according to TFA) filed at least one new patent during the process. People go to sporting events all the time. Far more than 42 million is spent. Is there a point to that? I fail to see it.

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"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by sphealey · 2018-02-20 12:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

That $42 million didn't just evaporate - it was spent on things. Probably including a lot of engineering, performed by mechanical engineers with salaries in the 60-80k USD range, and machinists with pay rates in the (yearly equivalent) 30-120k range. Also construction workers, similarly in the 30-120k range. And restaurant workers, truck drivers, titanium refiners, etc. All of whom are going to spend that money or invest it in relatively short-term family investments. All in all not a bad way of expanding the economy by some multiple of $42 million (eeeek! fractional reserves! call for the Bitcoin(tm)!) by merely using some otherwise useless markers out of Bezos' account.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Trogre · 2018-02-20 12:47 · Score: 1

Because throwing money at some problems doesn't make them go away.

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"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:13 · Score: 1

You think you get to decide? The president is not a dictator.
I think the point of the OP is that a massive, massive amount of money is pissed away on things that produce far less than Jeff Bezo's clock. If you want to get all cranked off at such things, you really are going to have to pace yourself.
Tell me, would you also be the guy getting all cranked off at the expense of producing Mount Rushmore, or the Washington Monument, the colossus, or the pyramid at Giza? The Washington Monument alone cost around $30,000 2016 dollars.
This is a public monument. They inspire meaning. That's why Bezos is building it. Nobody really liked the Eiffel tower when it was built either, but you try to tear that thing down now, and it'd be war.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by soc_cost_priv_gains · 2018-02-20 14:22 · Score: 1

Well, according to conservatives if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by soc_cost_priv_gains · 2018-02-20 14:26 · Score: 1

I find it fascinating that people would complain about something like this but not spending a billion dollars on a sports stadium with mostly tax payer money. Now that is a waste. If Jeff Bezos wants to build the world's largest toilet in order to flush money down it then I don't care as long as it's his money.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Corbets · 2018-02-20 16:19 · Score: 1

Well, according to conservatives if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Whereas that kind of broad libel against an entire political spectrum isn’t laziness per se, it’s just lazy thinking.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by n3r0.m4dski11z · 2018-02-20 17:17 · Score: 1

"I like clocks. I like accurate clocks, to be precise. I have several 'Atomic clocks', synchronized to WWVB out of Fort Colins"
Wow, then i would think then that you are THE target audience. So you are either 1) jealous or 2) have lost your sense of wonder.
42million over 10,000 years works out to $420 a year, so smoke some green and chill the fuck out bro.
its a god damned art piece, and a pretty cool engineering challenge to boot.

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Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Procrasti · 2018-02-20 23:31 · Score: 1

NB: Jeff is on record as supporting a UBI, which will go a long way to helping ALL the poor and homeless people.
What ever else he does with his money is his business if it is not harming anyone.
That alone is more charity than most billionaires ever do.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by azadrozny · 2018-02-21 01:35 · Score: 1

Except you are going to need the support of most of those people to get anything done. You are not throwing the party for yourself, but the thousands of people who worked for you for more than a year to get you elected. Sure many of theme are super wealthy people who did nothing except donate money, but many are rank and file employees and volunteers of the campaign. So while I appreciate your sentiment, and might even applaud a decision like this, you will be leaving out many folks who do deserve a thank you celebration.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:19 · Score: 1

Yeah that's what I thought: you don't have the strength of your convictions, you're just full of hot air.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:23 · Score: 1

You've been spotted, go back to 4chan and lurk more.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:25 · Score: 1

Well then if true then maybe he needs better PR people so the optics on something like this don't write a false narrative.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:26 · Score: 1

Then how about spending $42M on researching what WILL end homelessness?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:28 · Score: 1

Well, according to ultra-fundamentalists/Dominionists if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Fixed that for you.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:31 · Score: 1

There is such a thing as having a sense of SCALE, which this doesn't seem to; it comes off as excessive, and as conspicuous consumption; like poking everyone else in the eye. Also it's actually pretty useless. I could spend a couple hundred bucks and build a clock that wouldn't need to be set for DECADES, who the hell needs a clock that'll run for 10000 years?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:32 · Score: 1

UBI is bullshit and a non-starter and believing in it unironically just proves you're bad at math. Stop bringing it up.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:33 · Score: 1

No, you.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Procrasti · 2018-02-22 02:48 · Score: 1

Do you even second welfare theorem you fucking idiot?
I've done the maths, but you not so much.

Also in the works ... by fahrbot-bot · 2018-02-20 09:38 · Score: 1

Bezos is building a Prime 10,000 Year Clock, that will run to completion in 2 days.

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It must have been something you assimilated. . . .

Re:Also in the works ... by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:11 · Score: 1

You are obviously paraphrasing Linus Torvalds' famous comment, "We all know Linux is great... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds."

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I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

"Long Now" name by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:39 · Score: 1

Long Now is an odd name. Sounds like a Chinese restaurant: "Happy Long Life Now Lucky Gold Family Noodle-House".

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Table-ized A.I.

Clock already useful by SuperKendall · 2018-02-20 09:39 · Score: 3, Insightful

The Clock is already illuminating with stark clarity the further decline of Slashdot into a realm of howling luddite monkeys.

Ironically prooabiy many of the same people complaining about the clock are the same ones that complain modern electronics are no longer durable.

If anyone wants to know the deeper reasoning behind why the clock exists, read the book "The Clock Of The Long Now: Time and Responsibility".

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:Clock already useful by SuperKendall · 2018-02-23 14:36 · Score: 1

Hmm, assume that someone wandering in 9000 years hence will know how to read your complicated charts, or be able to get the time by simply turning a dial. Hmm.
You are also making a lot of assumptions of the durability of the tools and chart you place in there, not to mention the King Tut effect where after ten years, much less ten centuries, they are gone...

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

press the button every 108 minutes... by kiviQr · 2018-02-20 09:50 · Score: 1

someday someone will find it and they will be pressing button every 108 minutes... another DHARMA Initiative...

the future by bonedonut · 2018-02-20 09:51 · Score: 1

how many years until tribes of people are worshiping this clock and making sacrifices to it?

Re:And in "Irony Of The Week news" .... by HornWumpus · 2018-02-20 09:56 · Score: 1

Do you think you're funny or something?

I've got bad news, you're just stupid.

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John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'

Oh Cool! by Ferretman · 2018-02-20 10:03 · Score: 1

I'll swing by every hundred years or so to see how it's going. I'll post pictures.

Ferret

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Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

Am I the only one by rsilvergun · 2018-02-20 10:04 · Score: 1

who finds it disturbing that we're starting the see the kinds of absurd wastes of money here in America that we traditionally associated with Saudi Arabian Sheiks and Abu Dubai? Not too long ago the uber-wealthy were making it a point to hide this stuff from us working class slobs least we get uppity about it.

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Re:Am I the only one by Mister+Liberty · 2018-02-20 10:09 · Score: 1

No, you're not alone. This is in the same category as selling flamethrowers.
Having a lot of money apparently leads to idiocy.

Meh by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:08 · Score: 2

Sure, but does it adjust for DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME???