The 10,000 Year Clock in West Texas

[jonathaninATX]

There is a Clock ringing deep inside a mountain. It is a huge Clock, hundreds of feet tall, designed to tick for 10,000 years. Every once in a while the bells of this buried Clock play a melody. Each time the chimes ring, it’s a melody the Clock has never played before. The Clock’s chimes have been programmed to not repeat themselves for 10,000 years. Most times the Clock rings when a visitor has wound it, but the Clock hoards energy from a different source and occasionally it will ring itself when no one is around to hear it. It’s anyone’s guess how many beautiful songs will never be heard over the Clock’s 10 millennial lifespan.

The Clock is real. It is now being built inside a mountain in western Texas. This Clock is the first of many millennial Clocks the designers hope will be built around the world and throughout time. There is a second site for another Clock already purchased at the top of a mountain in eastern Nevada, a site surrounded by a very large grove of 5,000-year-old bristlecone pines. Appropriately, bristlecone pines are among the longest-lived organisms on the planet. The designers of the Clock in Texas expect its chimes will keep ringing twice as long as the oldest 5 millennia-old bristlecone pine. Ten thousand years is about the age of civilization, so a 10K-year Clock would measure out a future of civilization equal to its past. That assumes we are in the middle of whatever journey we are on – an implicit statement of optimism.

http://longnow.org/clock/

[desertpunk]

So where in West Texas is this 10,000 year clock?

[jonathaninATX]

I'm not sure what mountain it's being built on.

[desertpunk]

The first thing that popped into my mind was the Davis Mountains because of the MacDonald Observatory. But the Guadeloupes would do just fine!

[jonathaninATX]

Ok here it is...

It will be roughly 200 feet tall. Located under a remote limestone mountain near Van Horn, Texas, it will require a day’s hike to reach its interior gears. Just reaching the entrance tunnel situated 1500 feet above the high scrub desert will leave some visitors out of breath, nicked by thorns, and wondering what they got themselves into. To see the Clock you need to start at dawn, like any pilgrimage. Once you arrive at its hidden entrance in an opening in the rock face, you will find a jade door rimmed in stainless steel, and then a second steel door beyond it. These act as a kind of crude airlock, keeping out dust and wild animals. You rotate its round handles to let yourself in, and then seal the doors behind you. It is totally black. You head into the darkness of a tunnel a few hundred feet long. At the end there’s the mildest hint of light on the floor. You look up. There is a tiny dot of light far away, at the top of top of a 500 foot long vertical tunnel about 12 feet in diameter. There is stuff hanging in the shaft.

So I'm taking it will be a tourist attraction sounds fun.

http://longnow.org/clock/

[desertpunk]

Van Horn? Next to the truckstop?

Well it could very well become a tourist attraction but more for the rock climbers who normally go to Hueco Tanks outside El Paso. I look forward to seeing more pics of this beast someday!

[Classof2010]

nvm. delete.

[jonathaninATX]

What the clock will look like...



http://www.mozardien.com/blogs/2011/...face-in-texas/

I'm curious to see this once it gets built.

[desertpunk]

Crazy!

I wonder how many of these are being built. Just looking at Flickr, there seem to be some variants out there:

Work on a 10,000 year clock in northern California

image hosted on flickr

DSC04721 by AustinBrown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Geneva Wheel by Laughing Squid, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

The Long Now museum by madichan, on Flickr

[jonathaninATX]

They plan to built many more across the world, but this takes the cake as one of the most interesting projects to ever be built.


http://techmento.com/2011/06/21/10000-year-clock-built/

Also I notice that they plan to build a staircase around the clock. Looks real interesting...

[redbaron_012]

Yeah but what happens in 10,000 years ? The last time I recall someone doing this their clock expires on 21st December 2012............ummm quite soon.

[jonathaninATX]

Originally Posted by redbaron_012

Yeah but what happens in 10,000 years ? The last time I recall someone doing this their clock expires on 21st December 2012............ummm quite soon.

The Mayan Calendar is a cycle which ends on Dec. 21. 2012. so the end of the world is not going to happen on that day, but in the next 10,000 years who knows what will happen.

[italiano_pellicano]

mayan calendary LOL LOL