My first reference to the long-now idea – without referring to The Long Now by name – was this 2005 post about a technical / engineering exercise to create a sign the would physically and meaningfully survive 10,000 years. A sign sited to warn future humans not to accidentally disturb a long-life nuclear waste dump. Amazingly – contra link-rot – that exercise itself has survived 15 years on the web.
I remember much more recently being a little embarrassed at not recognising that Stewart Brand of 1968 Whole Earth Catalogue fame was one of the prime movers associated with The Long Now Foundation. At the time of the link above and most subsequent links in the blog it was Brian Eno’s name associated with it. Hat tip to @Longnow Foundation for this notification on my timeline:
For decades, @stewartbrand has advanced “ideas that seem at the edge of believability.”
Next month, catch the world premiere of the film We Are As Gods at SXSW: https://t.co/H44QgoiugE pic.twitter.com/AR9OaZmr5p
” Stripe Press (@stripepress) February 10, 2021
We are as gods, so we might as well get good at it.