The Long Now Foundation

“The Speed of the Earth” has returned to Black Rock City! Originally created in 02024, this art piece by Long Now Board members Kevin Kelly and David Rumsey uses a mile-long line of solar-powered LED strobes to create a streak of light that moves at the speed of the Earth's rotation. A visual that helps you feel the spin underfoot. More about the installation from David Rumsey: https://lnkd.in/gpHJQ8pj More about Burning Man art from Kevin Kelly in this 1999 issue of Whole Earth magazine: https://lnkd.in/gZqEkb8N

Why is Antarctica ground zero for conspiracy theories? It’s the only continent with no history of human habitation, yet it's home to top secret military and scientific research. Allegra Rosenberg traces the legends, the lore, and the real circumstances that keep feeding the intrigue – from hollow earth portals to “time-traveling Nazi shit”. https://lnkd.in/gcNx29H7 Art by Casey Cripe. Photos by Long Now artist-in-residence Christopher Michel.

Thank you to the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Zyzzyva Magazine, and artist Jonathon Keats for a wonderful happy hour event. We explored the links between human imagination and the intelligences of nature and synthetic minds. Amazing conversation among a very multi-disciplinary crowd. More member happy hour events are coming soon, sign up to get first access: https://lnkd.in/g3t-Ms_Q

Tomorrow at Nevada Museum of Art: A one-of-a-kind talk with artist Isabella Kirkland. A taxidermist turned painter, Kirkland's 30-year career has been dedicated to accurately cataloging, in oil, plant and animal species that may already be at risk of extinction.  Meet the artist, learn about her process, and see her work, “Nova: Forest Floor,” part of the Interspecies Relationships section of Nevada Museum of Art’s incredible exhibit Into the Time Horizon. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gft2xndS Portrait by Long Now artist-in-residence Christopher Michel

This antiquarian horologist measures time for a living — and she’s concluded it can’t be measured. Brittany Nicole Cox is one of the rare specialists who conserve and restore antique clocks, watches, and mechanical automata.  “If anything, I have found that time is not measurable, but perceptible. It is the observation of change and loss that accounts for the passing of time.” More about ancient timepieces and Cox’s fascinating work as a master horologist on Long Now Ideas: https://lnkd.in/gid7A_WR

Registration is open for Protocol Institute's 02026 Protocol Symposium, happening Sep 21–25. 50+ talks and 5 workshops covering topics from onchain robotics to protocol art. Space for the main event is capped at 100, so register early. Full agenda and registration details here: https://lnkd.in/gKMPy5DA

Neal Stephenson is back in San Francisco this October. On tour with his second book in the Bomb Light series, he’ll be reading and signing 𝘋: 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.  Thu, 10/15, 7-9PM, hosted at the Internet Archive, presented by The Booksmith. Tickets here: https://lnkd.in/gTT2W7rk  We’re long-time Stephenson fans. If you’re new to the Bomb Light series, check out his Long Now Talk on the first book 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯: https://lnkd.in/gZqZzYbe  Watch all this Long Now Talks here: https://lnkd.in/gJXtHWNg

If you’ve ever used an app like iNaturalist, you’re contributing to the most robust library of field observations ever collected. Thanks to app users, this torrent of raw field data vastly exceeds what even well-funded researchers could ever dream of gathering with traditional methods. Read about the value of multi-decadal time-series observations and how the new data sets are changing ecosystem science: https://lnkd.in/gZsA2EEV Art by Casey Cripe

[Ticket announcement] Researcher Anne Heggli, artist Jonathon Keats, and paleoclimatologist Adam Csank will discuss their paradigm-shifting long science findings and multi-millennial artwork studying the world's oldest trees. A small-capacity, intimate evening hosted at The Interval. Tickets will sell out fast, get yours here: https://lnkd.in/g4SwBjmK

Artist Alicia Eggert uses kinetic sculpture to make time more tangible. Her work engages with big existential questions about being, becoming, and living in the long now. You may remember when we collaborated with Alicia to truck a load of her precious and fragile neon tubes to the 11,000 feet to see “This Present Moment” light up among the bristlecones? She’s made neon signs that flash between the “present moment” and the “unimaginable future” and clocks that spell out “eternity”. Her art is a powerful reminder that our collective future may depend on our capacity to conceive of a now that is much longer and wider than a single moment. Read the profile about her work on Long Now Ideas: https://lnkd.in/g2ErHUxs