Stewart Brand's Blog, page 126

Beth Noveck Ticket Info

The Long Now Foundation's monthly Seminars About Long-term Thinking presents Beth Noveck on "Transparent Government"Thursday March 4, 02010 at 7:30 pm at the Herbst Theater in San FranciscoLong Now Members can reserve 2 seats, join today!or you can purchase tickets for $10 each.

About this Seminar:
President Obama's first executive action was the Open Government Memorandum calling for more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government. It is likely that one of the longest lasting...

Rosetta and Long Now on Life After People

Rosetta Project Director Laura Welcher recently took part in a segment on The History Channel's Life After People series.

In an episode titled "Crypt of Civilization," Laura discusses the Rosetta Disk and The 10,000 Year Clock.   

The central question of the series is "How long would it last?" The series explores various materials, systems and structures built by humans to determine their durability sans maintenance as well as natural systems and how they might flourish or decline without...

Global Lives Project Opening Celebration

Dedicated to bringing together video documentation of the daily lives of disparate global citizens, the Global Lives Project celebrates the opening of its first installation on February 26th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.  This installation is sponsored by the Long Now Foundation through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The Global Lives Project's World Premiere installation will be on view at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from February 26...

Artangel Longplayer 2009 Conversation Audio Available

As you may remember, Longplayer is a project by Jem Finer: a composition designed to last 1,000 years.  Along with a live performance of portions of the composition last year, a Long Conversation was held that lasted for 12 hours:

In parallel with a live performance in the Roundhouse's Main Space, the Artangel Longplayer 2009 Conversation took place in the Studio Theatre. Writer Jeanette Winterson began and ended the 12-hour talking marathon of twenty leading writers, filmmakers, scientists...

Long Now Media Update

There is new media available from our monthly series, the Seminars About Long-term Thinking. Stewart Brand's summaries and audio downloads or podcasts of the talks are free to the public; Long Now members can view HD video of the Seminars and comment on them.

Watch the video of Wade Davis' "The...

Alan Weisman Ticket Info

The Long Now Foundation's monthly Seminars About Long-term Thinking presents Alan Weisman on "World Without Us, World With UsWednesday February 24, 02010 at 7:30 pm at the Herbst Theater in San FranciscoLong Now Members can reserve 2 seats, join today!or you can purchase tickets for $10 each.

About this Seminar:
Journalist Weisman traveled the world to investigate what happens when humans stop occupying an area. How long do our artifacts last? How does nature recover? What does that say about...

China rising

The Long News: stories that might still matter fifty, or a hundred, or ten thousand years from now.

Robert Fogel writes in Foreign Policy this month:

In 2040, the Chinese economy will reach $123 trillion, or nearly three times the economic output of the entire globe in 2000… Although it will not have overtaken the United States in per capita wealth, according to my forecasts, China's share of global GDP — 40 percent — will dwarf that of the United States (14 percent) and the European Union (5...

Long Now Media Update

There is new media available from our monthly series, the Seminars About Long-term Thinking. Stewart Brand's summaries and audio downloads or podcasts of the talks are free to the public; Long Now members can view HD video of the Seminars and comment on them.

Listen to the Audio of Wade Davis'...

Wade Davis, "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World"

Native guidance

What does it mean to be human and alive?

The thousands of different cultures and languages on Earth have compellingly different answers to that question. "We are a wildly imaginative and creative species," Davis declared, and then proved it with his accounts and photographs of humanity plumbing the soul of culture, of psyche, and of landscape.

He began with Polynesians, the wayfinders who mastered the Pacific ocean in the world's largest diaspora. Without writing or...

Flesh and blood long-term library

Great piece in the Washington Post on the future of ancient books in Timbuktu.

"A sort of ancient-book fever has gripped Timbuktu in recent years" as outsiders encounter large, family-owned collections of ancient manuscripts which remain in private hands. at the same time, Timbuktu's residents "hope to lure the world to a place known as the end of the Earth by establishing libraries for visitors to see their centuries-old collections of manuscripts."  For those who do not sell their...