Computer scientist William “Danny” Hillis wants to build a clock that will tick for millennia. And now, thanks to financial backing from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, this dream will become a reality. Bezos recently posted an update to the 10,000 Year Clock website and a video to social media showing the beginning stages of the $42 million mechanical clock’s installation.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, an organization called the Long Now Foundation, founded by Hillis and Stewart Brand, will build the clock inside a mountain in west Texas. Most of the clock will be made with marine-grade stainless steel and some key parts will be made with stone and hi-tech ceramics. These should outlast most metals. It will also be huge — the clock is supposed to measure 500 feet tall and be powered by thermal energy. It will self-adjust to keep a true solar noon. There will also be a “chime generator” that will come up with a different sequence of rings each day, and the cuckoo will come out every 1,000 years. On its first anniversary, the clock is set to animate an 8-foot-tall model of the solar system. But then on its 10-, 100-, 1,000, and 10,000-year marks, other animations will take place in one of the five rooms carved into the mountain. You probably won’t be able to see the clock up close because it will be located in a remote area of property owned by Bezos in the Sierra Mountains of Texas. But you can email a blank message to clockinterest@10000yearclock.net to be notified when the clock is finished.
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