Clock of the Long Now

The Clock of the Long Now (German, The Clock of the Long Now ') is a proposed mechanical clock that will show the time for the next 10,000 years.

Inspiration

The clock is one of the main projects of the Long Now Foundation. Inspired by the general mood on the eve of the millennium, the founder of the Foundation had come to believe that it would be good for the long-term survival of humanity, if you vision goes really far into the future.

Requirements on the clock

• Longevity: The clock should still be sufficiently accurate even after 10,000 years and must not have valuable items ( such as jewelry, expensive metals, or special alloys ), which could be looted.
• Maintainability: Future generations should be able to repair the clock. They should but do not need further plans, and technologies on the state of the Bronze Age should be sufficient for this.
• Transparency: In order to understand how the clock works, should they need not stop or break down.
• Development capability: it should be possible to improve the clock over time further.
• Scalability: It should be possible, functional models of the clock of a table clock to build up to monumental size with the same pattern.

History

The project was designed by computer engineer and inventor Danny Hillis in 1986, and the first prototype of the clock was completed just in time for the millennium. This prototype, about two meters high, is currently on display at the Science Museum in London. As of December 2007, two more prototypes were exhibited at the Long Now Museum & Store in Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has be inspired by the idea such that it supports the construction of 42 million U.S. dollars. The preparatory construction work on the planned location of the clock on a plot of Jeff Bezos in the mountains of Texas have already begun. The clock was poetic in the name of " The Clock of the Long Now ", named by the British music artist Brian Eno.

Description

• The components

The clock is low, installed underground, in a tunnel in Texas. Thus they should be protected against any shocks. The overall concept is based on an electro- mechanical design. In the center of a clock astrolabe with a planetary machine is placed.

The clock receives its energy from the temperature fluctuations between day and night. If visitors want to see the currently valid indication, they must set the mechanism itself in motion, and thus perform more energy.

When timer a torsion pendulum was chosen, which is very reliable, but inaccurate though. To compensate for it, the pendulum is synchronized with the help of a sapphire glass window by the midday sun at noon. Thus, it is possible that the clock over millennia can keep the correct time.

A working after a certain ( developed by Brian Eno ) algorithm chimes ensures that the melodies will not repeat within 10,000 years.