Edge’s John Brockman Interviews Alexander Rose

Executive Director Alexander Rose recently sat down with John Brockman of Edge.org to discuss Long Now. (Brockman recently gave a talk at Long Now in February about A.I.).

There are almost no artifacts that have been built for very long periods of time. With things like the pyramids or Stonehenge—we knew the pyramids were for tombs, and we don’t know what Stonehenge was for, but we don’t feel as though we’re looking back in time and thinking that those generations cared about us. That’s the fundamental message we’re trying to achieve with the clock. It’s meant to be a message of hope about the present that we are going to continue to solve problems and have a good way of life as we move forward. Also, if we were to have burrowed into this mountain and found the clock already ticking, what clock do we wish we had found and what intent do we wish that those people had for us? To me, I wish that I would find something that made me feel as though past generations cared about me.

Read the interview in full here.