The Clock Of The Long Now: Time And Responsibility

Stewart Brand

ISBN 10: 046504512X / ISBN 13: 9780465045129

Published by Basic Books, 1999

Dust jacket in good condition. First edition, first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. Binding is tight and structurally sound. Clean interior pages. Secure packaging for safe delivery. Seller Inventory # 1884703911

Synopsis:

Using the designing and building of the Clock of the Long Now as a framework, this is a book about the practical use of long time perspective: how to get it, how to use it, how to keep it in and out of sight. Here are the central questions it inspires: How do we make long-term thinking automatic and common instead of difficult and rare? Discipline in thought allows freedom. One needs the space and reliability to predict continuity to have the confidence not to be afraid of revolutions Taking the time to think of the future is more essential now than ever, as culture accelerates beyond its ability to be measured Probable things are vastly outnumbered by countless near-impossible eventualities. Reality is statistically forced to be extraordinary; fiction is not allowed this freedom This is a potent book that combines the chronicling of fantastic technology with equally visionary philosophical inquiry.

Review: "How do we make long-term thinking automatic and common," asks Stewart Brand, "instead of difficult and rare?" Or, to put it another way, how does one get people to develop a natural perspective of their present moment that extends beyond a few days in either direction? The Clock of the Long Now describes a potential solution from the Long Now Foundation, a digerati braintrust co-chaired by Brand, the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog. The other chair, computer scientist Daniel Hillis, gave the group their initial premise in a 1995 Wired magazine article dreaming of a "Millennium Clock" that would measure time on a 10,000-year scale, and musician Brian Eno, who came up with the concept of the "Long Now." Although there is a lot of discussion of the clock itself--where to build it? how to design it?--Brand's main theme is about accepting responsibility for the long-term consequences of our actions. "We are not the culmination of history," he warns, "and we are not start-over revolutionaries; we are in the middle of civilisation's story ... We don't know what's coming. We do know we're in it together." The Clock of the Long Now is a deceptively short book, written in a friendly, at times conversational style. It can be read in an afternoon, but just might make you think for a lifetime. Maybe even a few lifetimes. --Ron Hogan, Amazon.com

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Clock Of The Long Now: Time And ...
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition.