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

Posted by BeauHD on from the stand-the-test-of-time dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shared a video on Tuesday of his latest project: a giant clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years. Buried deep in a west Texas mountain, the project is in partnership with San Francisco-based group The Long Now Foundation, which grew out of an idea for a 10,000 year clock that co-founder Danny Hillis proposed back in the '90s. Now, the 500-foot tall mechanical wonder is finally undergoing installation. Bezos is fronting the cash for the $42 million project, saying on the project's website that the clock is "designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking." The clock is powered by a large weight hanging on a gear, built out of materials durable enough to keep time for 10 millennia. Bezos isn't the only noteworthy name on the clock project. Musician Brian Eno and writers Kevin Kelly and Stewart Brand are also involved in the clock's construction. The team has spent the last few years creating parts for the clock and drilling through the mountain to store the pieces. You can read Bezos's account of that and view photos of the progress here.

29 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. 10,000 days by 14erCleaner · · 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.

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
    1. Re:10,000 days by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Except those looking for Radioactive waste...

    2. Re:10,000 days by nospam007 · · 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.

  2. Wew. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    1. Re:Wew. by The+Grim+Reefer · · 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.

  3. Live, the Universe, and Everything by WilliamGeorge · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    42

    --
    William George
  4. Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Bruce+Perens · · 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.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  5. Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't think that'll last 10,000 years.

    And apple likely won't replace the battery free of charge.

  6. You know what they say by willoughby · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

  7. Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Krishnoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    If it also keeps away tigers, I'm in.

  8. Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · · 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?

    1. Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · · 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?

    2. Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by rthille · · 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?

      --
      Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
    3. Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by RobinH · · 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.

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    4. Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by sphealey · · 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.

  9. Clock already useful by SuperKendall · · 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".

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  10. Re:Doesn't make any sense. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · 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 . . . ?"

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  11. Meh by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

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

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Meh by naughtynaughty · · Score: 2

      It keeps uses Solar Noon as it's time zone, so it adjusts every day or at least every day that has enough solar light at solar noon

  12. Re:Mystery of my childhood solved! by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

    Just wait 'till aliens bring the Tesla Roadster back to earth, looking for it's creator... Maybe it will go by the name "V'Ger" by then.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  13. Re:$42 million by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

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

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  14. Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by enjar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The concent of Saunt Bezos?

    1. Re:Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by twistnatz · · Score: 2

      The story for Anathem actually came from Neal Stephenson thinking about a clock design for the Long Now Foundation.

  15. the real question by TimMD909 · · Score: 2

    Will it blend?

  16. Re:Absolutely necessary? by Humbubba · · 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

  17. It's a front by kaatochacha · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For Jeff Bezos' Lex Luthor lair.

  18. Re:Not just Bezos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Neal Stephenson made good use of the idea in his Anathem novel where monks had kept the tradition of scientific knowledge through multiple dark ages. Each monastery had a giant ancient clock in it that had called the cadence of the order through the ages

  19. Re:Doesn't make any sense. by darth.hunterix · · 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?

    --
    What is best in life? Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper.
  20. Re:Absolutely necessary? by Cytotoxic · · 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.