June 22, 2001
Millennium Clock
"It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium." -Danny Hillis Sit still for one minute; sixty seconds. Stop reading and just sit ... ... ... What happened while you sat? Your heart beat about 70 times, you took a few breaths, perhaps someone walked past you or a phone rang. Think about your day now. Maybe you took a shower like you do every morning, or sat with your first cup of coffee before driving to work. Now go back over the last year. All of those routines in the minutes and the days of your life become a pattern. Now make a big jump and imagine the billions of humans that each have their own routines, acting out patterns of increasing complexity as years pass into decades. Economies rise and fall, hemlines go from short to long and back again and our planet Earth goes through its ritual seasonal cycles.
Take one last step- the step from generations to centuries. It's not easy to think of something that has survived for that long. The pyramids or Stonehenge come to mind. It's hard to envision the immense amount of time that has passed since those monuments were constructed. Their longevity dwarfs the human lifetime. The members of the Long Now Foundation are fascinated by these and other concepts of time and civilization. This group of foresighted people intend to build a 10,000 Year Clock that will keep time for several millennia. The clock will reside in Ely, Nevada - nestled in a picturesque area of the Great Basin National Park. It will be in relative isolation now, but in a few thousand years the Clock may be in the Times Square of a new Nevada city. Think again about Stonehenge. How has it survived the ravages of man and nature while other historical wonders have been eroded and pillaged?
Possibly because the inherent worth of the components (stone) is next to nothing. Many founders believe that the Clock should walk a fine line between enduring symbol and worshipped idol. It needs to be cared for and about, but not invested with such potent meaning that it becomes the target of zealots. The Clock will mark time in such large increments that visitors will be able to get a sense of the enormity of Time. Imagine visiting the Clock as a child with your parents, then returning again as an adult with your children, then perhaps once more with your grandchildren. Each time the clock hand will have moved just a tiny bit. Your lifetime would be represented by just a tiny fraction of the Clock's face. You can get more information about the 10,000 Year Clock at the Long Now Foundation site. In addition to articles, pictures, and updates, the Foundation also offers message boards.
Visit to discuss issues as abstract as the purpose of the clock and the meaning it will carry or as mundane as cleaning the clock and vandalismprevention.