Chimes at Midnight (2024)

It’s also a clever device to make the account of the author’s visit more vivid, because I as the reader imagine making the journey myself.

(But I do think it would be a fun adventure to try to follow the directions.)

The clock being deep in a cave reminds me of the clockworks in Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. The clockworks are more of an entropy amplifier than what we think of as a timekeeping device, which I guess is the point of the metaphor, in a way. The clockworks embody eastern philosophy and humility and Bezos’ clock embodies manifest destiny and arrogance?

The content of the article had put me in the mindset of trying to look back on our time from the distant future (or even just a few decades), and in that state of mind this line was jarring. I feel like it won't be long before the phrase "person of color" is about as well-received as "negro" is today.

If I was writing the article to last 100 years, I would have probably written something like "all members are Caucasian, except for the entrepreneur Ping Fu", although who knows how that would actually be received.