The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility: The Ideas Behind the World's Slowest Computer

Rating:
Summary: Y2K too mild? Think about Y10K
Review: This book offers great perspectives on time, our future and "progress". Forget megaflops, think about building the worlds slowest computer, something that will last 10,000 years, or a post office that will deliver after a millennium! The chapter on "Digital dark age" is a must for any librarian or archivist ("Digital storage is easy ... digital preservation is hard"). The building of a clock to last 10,000 years may be a partial antidote to a society with attention deficit disorder (See for example Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick). I would have been interested in more specifics on keeping the clock running, and how to retain the organization over time. Will someone in 2,000 years still have the cultural context to be able to read this book or keep the clock going? I don't know if this clock and library will ever be built, but I hope so.

Rating:
Summary: 10,000 years - a tick in the evolution of the universe
Review: This easy to read yet intellectually stimulating book describes the need for mankind to consider the long-term, and presents the Clock of the Long Now project - a clock that will record time for some 10,000 years, as well as its accompanying 10,000-Year Library. Design considerations of a clock that could run for 10,000 years are discussed. The importance of culture and libraries are discussed, as well as the short lifespan of digital information for a variety of reasons, often due to the introduction of newer technologies making older representations obsolete. It is put forth that a 10,000-Year Library would make the world safer for rapid change, and the possible collections of such a library are discussed.