Taking a question from the audience, author Ian McEwan says that we’ll know we’ve achieved complete trust with lifelike machines once we stop asking them, “Are you real?”

From the Long Now Seminar, “Machines Like Me” by Ian McEwan. . .   Read More

Former Seminar speaker Stephen Pyne was recently interviewed for a piece in New York Magazine about what it means to build permanent structures in California—a state that was always meant to continually burn and shake. 

So quickly, according to the fire historian Stephen Pyne, we forget the threat is even real. “We think. . .   Read More

There’s not going to be a ‘fix’ for climate change, says science journalist Jeff Goodell. There will only be adaptations. From the Long Now Seminar, “The Water Will Come. . .   Read More

Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and philosophy at UC-Berkeley, believes that the changes AI will bring to humanity will be profound, but that we won’t notice them.

From John Brockman’s Long Now Seminar “Possible Minds. . .   Read More

Computer scientist Stuart Russell discusses the future and possible risks of artificial intelligence, focusing specifically on the problem of filter bubbles on social media.Read More

“We need to think globally, we need to think rationally, and above all, we need to think long-term.” – Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, speaking at Long Now.

Watch video of the full talk here. . .   Read More

On Monday, February 25th, 02019, John Brockman (Founder of edge.org) will speak at Long Now about his new book on artificial intelligence, Possible Minds. Brockman will interview several of the contributors to the book, Rodney Brooks, Alison Gopnik and Stuart Russell on stage. Following the interviews, Kevin Kelly will host the Q&A. . .   Read More

A new paper by archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo addresses one of the longstanding mysteries of the monuments of Easter Island: their location.

Four hundred of the statues, known as muai, are located miles away from where they were originally quarried, and sit on megalithic platforms, or ahu. An analysis of the locations of. . .   Read More

“I think it’s a dangerous delusion to think that space offers an escape from Earth’s problems.” -Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, speaking at Long Now in January 02019.

Watch video of the full talk here. . .   Read More

Photo by Darv Robinson on Unsplash

This is the week when we recall what we’ve done last year, and resolve to use time better in the year to come. Indeed, in our everyday lives, time is a precious commodity. We can gain or lose it. We can save, spend or waste it. If our. . .   Read More