The latest Seminars About Long-term Thinking are now available as audio downloads or podcasts and in hi-res video for Long Now members.

*Rick Prelinger on “Lost Landscapes of San Francisco” – audio and video now available

On my last trip to England I visited the cathedral in Ely and was struck by the longevity of large structural beams made from a material that I dont really think of as a millennial building material… wood. The main beams that support the 170 foot tall “lantern tower” called the Octagon are about 700 years old, and show no sign of deterioration (pictured above and below).

While some of the joinery has been updated and serviced, the main structural elements are original and have taken the maintenance gracefully.  What’s more, I am certain these are not the oldest structural wood beams in the world (Here are some suggested by commenters: 1 & 2)  Below is a photo looking up toward the Octagon that these beams support:

We are regularly researching and making estimates on how long various materials can last for the Clock project.  This cathedral reminds me that maintaining a dry environment and institutional continuity are really what makes something last on a millennial scale..

Back in June of 02005 Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford.  I heard about it second hand from several people who said he quoted Stewart Brand at the end.  But until I came across this video today, I had not heard or seen it.  The whole thing is an excellent talk, and may be a good stand-in for those of you suffering from the disappointment in the lack of Steve at the last MacWorld.  Look for the mention of the Whole Earth Catalog and Stewart at 12:50 into the talk.

Also of note for the Whole Earth Catalog fans out there is that Danica Remy and the folks at Point Foundation have put up a digital version of all of The Whole Earth Catalogs.

On the left: “All the water in the world
(1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it)
including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers,
ground water, clouds, etc.”

On the right: “All the air in the atmosphere
(5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a
ball at sea-level density.”

Re-blogged from Forgetomori.

The Wall St Journal ran a piece in their January 2nd Edition on the narrow group of languages that can use SMS cell phone text messaging.  Our very own Laura Welcher was quoted in the article:

“The idea of having your cultural identity represented in this technology is increasingly important,” says Laura Welcher, director of the Rosetta Project of San Francisco’s Long Now Foundation. Ms. Welcher, who says linguists fear half the world’s languages will disappear in the near future, thinks at least 200 languages have enough speakers to justify development of cellphone text systems. “Technology empowers the poorest people,” she adds.

Stewart Brand sent me this excellent piece by past Seminar Speaker, historian and author, Niall Furguson.  It is a retrospective of 02009, bravely published a year in advance.  An excerpt from the intro:

“It was the year when people finally gave up trying to predict the year ahead. It was the year when every forecast had to be revised – usually downwards – at least three times. It was the year when the paradox of globalisation was laid bare for all to see, if their eyes weren’t tightly shut.”

The piece is impressive for a historian, as it puts his written history into the territory of the future.  And aside from letting his McCain adviser status show fairly bluntly, I think it is an unfortunate but likely scenario.  The main take away for me is that it reinforces the idea that the borrow and spend economy cannot sustain, it will always have to brutally correct at some point…

“With total debt above 350 per cent of US gross domestic product, the excesses of the age of leverage proved difficult to purge. Households reined in their consumption. Banks sought to restrict new lending. The recession deepened. Unemployment rose towards 10 per cent, and then higher. The economic downward spiral seemed unstoppable. No matter how hard they saved, Americans simply could not stabilise the ratio of their debts to their disposable incomes. The paradox of thrift meant that rising savings translated into falling consumer demand, which led to rising unemployment, falling incomes and so on, ever downwards.”

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

An excellent compilation of timelapse photography sent in by Stewart Brand.  It is part of the many great works at The Sky in Motion.com.