Hacker News Reader

Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

It's still not finished? They've been working on that, and collecting money, for over 20 years now. The one in Van Horn is just the prototype, too.

View on HN

What a few decades in construction when it's supposed to last for multiple millennia? The society of the Long Now probably even considers it an advantage, in some sort of symbolic way. Most cathedrals are also built for eternity and some take centuries to complete.

There are probably too many distraction from the outside world - best to build a wall round the area and let those within focus on their work. Perhaps there could be gates in the wall that open at suitable time periods...

Maybe have concentric rings with gates that open at 1, 10, 100 and 1000 year intervals to keep things simple?

I never managed to finish that one. Worth it in the end?

Only if you like Stephenson Endings.

I liked Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Interface, Zodiak and even REAMDE and The Big U and cobweb (to an extent). I never finished the Baroque cycle though, despite buying the first book in hardback in day one.

I also never quite finished Dodge in Hell either but probably will some day.

I think it's one of Stephenson's better books.

But if you've reached the sixfold voco about 2/5ths of the way in and you're still not enjoying it, it might not be your thing.

I don't think the rings of the maths were concentric - didn't each one have their own separate gate - the tenners gate led directly outside the walls, not into the unary math?

Cathedrals are built by organizations with a track record of continuity. The Long Now foundation may run down before their clock gets finished.

Their mission statement is to foster long-term thinking. It wouldn't be totally ridiculous to argue that the slow pace is a feature, not a bug.

"My slow cooker is broken - it isn't cooking quickly enough!"

This project / foundation is called the long now, doesn’t sound they care for a few years more or less.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com