In the western spiral arm of our galaxy lies a star system and a planet
occupied ages ago. On one mountain of that planet there is a great
structure, thousands of cubits tall. It is constructed of sapphire and
diamond, is self-repairing, and derives energy from both solar power and
an internal power supply which we do not understand.
Each solar rotation, this vast mechanism emits a tick. Each hundred
rotations, it emits a gong. Those who study the mechanism believe that
every ten thousand rotations, a small mechanism will appear from a
certain door and make a sound. The last effect has not been observed in
living memory, and the next occurrence is projected to be nearly eighty
generations removed from those now living. Xenoarcheologists say that
the gong's period was longer than that species' lifespan, and that the
unseen mechanism had a period longer than that species' entire recorded
history. The entire edifice was constructed only a few years before
that race vanished forever to wherever ancient races go.
Philosophers across the galaxy have argued over the purpose of the
Eternal Clock. As with other artifacts such as the Diamond Book, the
Circle of Time, the Oracle, and the Wandering Flame, consensus holds
that the motive was not religious or superstitious in nature, but philosophical.
What principle the Eternal Clock was intended to embody is still a
matter of great controversy. But while arguments rage in the halls of
philosophy, while young philosophers propose new theories and old
philosophers defend the consensus, while competing positions strive
until one gains the upper hand at last, while children are born and
great-grandparents die, while intelligent races evolve and vanish, the
Eternal Clock continues to tick. And perhaps that is the message it is
intended to convey.
--Usually, Internet-tycoon projects like the Clock of the Long Now make me want to stand up and scream: "How on Earth can I be living in a world where there are wealthy people creative enough and ambitious enough to spend $40M on this, while Foresight is still struggling to support itself?" It's not that I object to the Clock, understand; I think the Clock should be built. I don't object to the money; I think that if a survey were to be taken of all the forty-million-dollar units spent in the global economy, the Clock of the Long Now is definitely in the 99.99th percentile. It's just that if the technowealthy are going to go that far outside the usual round of uncreative charity and pointless hedonism, why can't Foresight, or for that matter the Singularity Institute, get funding on the same level? Is there some reason why building a timeless artifact encouraging everyone to slow down appeals more to the psyche than constructing a greater-than-human intelligence, or than nanotechnology and everything that goes with it?
I may think that human history is due to end within the next twenty years. I may think that improving on the 100 meter/sec signal propagation speed of the human neuron should make it possible to achieve a million-to-one or trillion-to-one speedup in subjective time. If it ever comes time to nominate someone for the position of Arch-Nemesis of the Long Now, I'm on the short list.
Still, I like the Clock of the Long Now. If there's a clause in the Sysop instructions about protecting artifacts like the Great Pyramid or the Declaration of Independence, I'd be the first to nominate the Clock of the Long Now for addition to the set. It's such a wonderful example of life imitating science fiction, especially if we can use nanotechnology to make the Clock really permanent.
I'm not suggesting that building the Clock is morally wrong while little children are starving in Africa. I'm not asserting that building the Clock is morally wrong while Foresight could use more funding. I'm not even saying that if we're going to spend $40M to encourage everyone to slow down and take the long view, we might want to consider spending a few bucks on preventing the destruction of the world. I really do think that all such arguments are specious, that the implicitly argued tradeoffs don't exist, that humanity can easily afford to fund the Clock *and* everything else. I'm *proud* that my species has finally reached the point where we can build mysterious artifacts with inscrutable philosophical purposes - where we can build forty-million-dollar artifacts of true philosophical and aesthetic beauty, not because we have to, or because we're afraid of the dark, but because they're beautiful.
But if we've reached that level, then there are a lot of other beautiful things that, one would think, we would also be doing. Constructing a new mind free from hate, learning the philosophical applications of evolutionary psychology to free ourselves from ourselves. What is it, in the mind or the meme, that enables people to deeply care about the Clock of the Long Now, but doesn't enable people to care about the prospect of greater-than-human intelligence? Why? Why? Why? -- sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://pobox.com/~sentience/beyond.html Member, Extropy Institute Senior Associate, Foresight Institute
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