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Comment by wiradikusuma | Hacker News Reader

I'm in awe, but at the same time concerned of its longevity due to vandalism and human acts.

I assume this remote site will be unguarded? Expect rubbish, empty cans, used condoms etc there. That's assuming nobody does damage to the clock itself, either on purpose (stealing) or not ("what if I put a wood stick inside..."). Some people would start climbing it just because.. and some of them would get hurt or die. Police would come and seal the place.

"It's one day hiking!" -- yes for now. Human settlements expand, and within few years maybe the distance from nearest settlement would be half. Also if the place becomes famous, people would pave ways to it (you know, as tourist attraction).

I guess I'm an old fart.

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It's 3 kilometers from the nearest public road, an unpaved access road for a wildlife management area. There is an access road they have used for the construction but that can be blocked a considerable further distance away.

And go look at how sparse that part of Texas is. It'll be just a little while before any development encroaches on the mountain. The access road above is 50 Km from a village with ~2,000 people.

Don’t underestimate what a tiny percentage of people with malice in their hearts can do with 10000 years of opportunity.

Right, a determined vandal could go damage it. My argument is that the level of determination required isn't going to change very quickly.

> Shining your light around the rest of the chamber you’ll see the pendulum and escapement encased in a shield of quartz glass – to keep out dust, air movements, and critters.

> The biggest problem for the beating Clock will be the effects of its human visitors. Over the span of centuries, valuable stuff of any type tends to be stolen, kids climb everywhere, and hackers naturally try to see how things work or break. But it is humans that keep the Clock’s bells wound up, and humans who ask it the time. The Clock needs us. It will be an out of the way, long journey to get inside the Clock ringing inside a mountain. But as long as the Clock ticks, it keeps asking us, in whispers of buried bells, “Are we being good ancestors?”

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