Survive 10,000 Years With Alexander Rose of the Long Now Foundation

We Will Get Through This

Think one year ahead. You can likely do that.

Think 15 years ahead, let’s say to 2035. You might just about be able to do that.

Think 100 years ahead. Almost impossible. And 1000 years?

And yet, if we don’t build our capacity to think beyond our timespan, we’re likely doomed.

So, how to do that?

I’ve been a member of an organization called The Long Now Foundation for ten years. They’re committed to long-term thinking. We’re 10,000 years into civilization. How do we act as stewards for the next 10,000 years?

The perfect person to answer this question is Alexander Rose, the Executive Director of The Long Now Foundation. Alexander is an industrial designer who’s been involved in The Long Now Foundation since 01997 (the way they write the year reflects a 10,000 year calendar, btw). Projects include a stunning mechanical 10,000 year clock and a fantastic seminar series and podcast on long-term thinking.

In our conversation we discuss: how the combination of mechanisms and myths help generate the conversations we need to survive the next 10,000 years; what it means to think about “a hundred year fix”; how the Foundation decides where to invest its time and money; and why their policy is to not take sides.

You can meet Alexander at LongNow.org, and I’d encourage you to consider a membership to support the Foundation’s work.

This show is brought to you by The Advice Trap, Michael Bungay Stanier’s latest book. You can access a wide range of tools to help #TameYourAdviceMonster at www.TheAdviceTrap.com.

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