The Clock of the Long Now

First published in 1999, this book demonstrates that humanity has developed a dangerously short attention span. Some sort of balancing corrective to short-sightedness is needed, to encourage the long view and acceptance of long-term responsibility, and so the author calls for the creation of a machine, which is also a myth!

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Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. This text describes a long-term project designed to encourage people to think beyond the psychological barrier of the millennium and into the future. The Long Now Foundation, founded by some of the world's most influential and cutting-edge thinkers, plan to build a gigantic mechanical clock, perhaps as large as Stonehenge, in the American desert. It is intended to record time for 10,000 years.