Jeff Bezos spent $42million building a clock that will outlast human civilization
- Jeff Bezos is bankrolling a $42m clock to outlast human civilization
- It will run for 10 millennia
- It’s powered by Earth’s thermal cycles.
Published on Nov 28, 2023 at 9:42 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Nov 29, 2023 at 5:27 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Billionaire, Jeff Bezos, has once again proven his super-villain credentials by building a $42m clock to outlast human civilization.
Said to be able to run for 10 millennia, it’s powered by Earth’s thermal cycles.
Jeff Bezos is one of the richest people on the planet.
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Forbes estimates he has $169.1 billion in the bank.
Cash means nothing to the Amazon founder who can afford a $79 million home on ‘Billionaire Bunker’, $75m ‘support yacht’ for his $500m ‘mega yacht’ and $78 million private jet.
Now it seems time and space are meaningless too.
Bezos announced the project back in 2018.
He invested in the idea of putting a giant, 10,000-year clock inside a mountain in West Texas.
Construction on the clock, part of The Long Now Foundation, is now well under way.
Once finished, it will stand at 500 feet (152 meters) high.
As per a statement on the clock’s official website:
“The Clock is hundreds of feet tall, engineered to require minimal maintenance, and powered by mechanical energy harvested from sunlight as well as the people that visit it.
“The Clock will mark time with astronomic and calendric displays and a chime generator designed with the help of Brian Eno that can produce over 3.5 million unique bell chime sequences — one for every day the Clock is visited for the next 10,000 years.”
Bezos is footing the bill but the idea came from a man named Danny Hillis who co-founded the foundation.
The idea is supposed to help people invest in thee long-term future of humanity – and the planet.
It’s hoped to encourage people to “conjure with notions of generations and millennia”.
“If you have a Clock ticking for 10,000 years what kinds of generational-scale questions and projects will it suggest?” the website asks.
“If a Clock can keep going for ten millennia, shouldn’t we make sure our civilization does as well?”
That idea has been labelled ‘The Clock of the Long Now’.
Hillis build an actual, working smaller version of the proposed clock.
And, while Bezos is building the full-size timepiece, Hillis is still very much involved in its design.
When completed, it will only tick once a year and its chime will only be heard once per millennium.
Now if that doesn’t make you feel insignificant I don’t know what will.
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London-based Amelia cut her journalistic teeth covering all things lifestyle, wellness and luxury in the UK capital. Fast-forward a decade and the experienced content creator and editor has put pen to paper for glossy magazines, busy newsrooms and coveted brands. When her OOO is on you can find her spending quality time with her young family, in the gym or exploring the city she loves.
