Box of Crayons

If you had 10,000 years, what would you do?

Long-term readers know I’m a great fan of The Long Now Foundation – both how they think and what they’re working on.

You can find out more about what they think about here and here.

One of their most stunning projects is the 10,000 Year Clock, what they call “the world’s slowest computer.”

What I love about this project isn’t just the stunning engineering that’s going into such a thing, but more the shift in possibilities.

Imagine planning for an impact that would last not one month, ten months, one year, a decade, a century … but 10,000 years.

It’s almost impossible to get your head around.  But here are two ways to help imagine this.

  1. It’s not year 2008.  But the year 02008.
  2. The sense of scale provided by this very cool site.  The difference in time between 1 year and 10,000 years is that between me and Mt Fuji.  (Confused?  Check it out and you’ll see what I mean.)

Great Work requires a shift of scale.  Thinking big.  Thinking long.

(If you want a way of accessing this work through Fiction, you’ll enjoy the latest Neal Stephenson book, Anathem.  My wife’s just read it, and she says it’s extraordinary.)


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Posted on September 16, 2008
Posted in self-management | Tagged , ,

One Response to If you had 10,000 years, what would you do?

  1. Christian says:
    September 18, 2008 at 3:33 am

    Hi Michael,

    I read your blog post on the Long Now and I agree it’s great work! I always come back to Brian Eno’s original scripture which includes the Big Here and reminds us that what we create, we actually create NOW…and NOW…and NOW…and NOW…AND with the Long Now as a perspective.

    The Big Here is also well represented in this magnificent presentation:

    http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/universcale/

    Use your Long Now and take the time to see the entire length of it (you can also click the scale if your schedule is not empty today).

    I can also recommend the book: The View from the Centre of the Universe by Primack/Abrams which puts us, the human race, into a fascinating perspective.

    With Long and Big regards,
    Christian