WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: What's the 10,000 Year Clock? 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.000 Hey, everybody, it's me Josh, and my pick for s 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.280 Y s K Selects this week is the one we 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.600 did on the ten thousand year Clock. Uh. Just looking back, 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.239 I think it's probably one of the coolest episodes we've 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.960 ever done. And it's just kind of me and Chuck 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.720 operating on all cylinders talking about something we're super jazzed about. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.360 So we hope you enjoy it. And my apologies for 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:26.279 being sick in this one. It's still good. Welcome to 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:35.720 stuff you should know from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.159 and welcome to the podcast, Josh Clark. There's Charles W. 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:43.400 W Chuck Bright and that makes this stuff you should 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.839 That's right. How are you, sir? I said, it's a 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.760 little under the weather. Other than that, I'll find I've 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:54.160 got that. Remember the Happiness audio book. We talked to 0:00:54.240 --> 0:01:00.080 it guy David Pierced and trans humanist about separating a 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.880 susception pain, like the physical experience of pain, from suffering, 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.880 like just getting rid of suffering, like I've reached that 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:14.600 point and being sick where like I see how intertwined 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.839 the two are. Like I just keep saying, like woe 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.760 is me? Like I am suffering. It's pretty bad. So 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:23.800 do you feel bad, like in a flu sense or 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:25.800 is it just the head full of stuff it makes 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.080 it unbearable. Uh? No, Luckily I don't have any flu 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.800 symtom because that's what puts me under this when you 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:38.040 literally feel those eggs in your skin is really sensitive. 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.360 Was just what I had before you. We're taking turns. 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:43.960 I don't know if I got it from you or not. 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.480 Air air travel often will do that, so yeah, I 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.160 got I got mine after air travel too. Stupid air travel. 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.160 It's two thousand and twelve, you know you don't. Can 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:01.240 we do better with the recirculated air on a plane? Maybe? Yeah, 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.000 just like surely you can crack a window a little 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.480 bit or something, right, get some fresh air in there. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.600 There's gotta be something there, right, So um, I guess 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.880 we should do this one. No, we're not, you know why, 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:17.600 because we got all the time in the world. Man, 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.600 slow down, That's what I was saying. Yeah, and I'm 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.960 just reiterating, well, thank you. There's no hurry, Josh. Well, 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:26.560 let's just stay here for a little while. We're in 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:33.000 the foundation of the long now. Uh, you're misreading. It's 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.480 the long now foundation. I like the foundation of the 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:40.840 Long Now you Longer? Yeah it is. It's a couple 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.880 of extra wards there named by Brian Eno. Yeah, the 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:50.359 great musical composer, father maybe of techno producer. I think 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.640 he's called a rock musician in this article. Well the 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.160 guy I watched a Setti talk from Alexander Rose, who 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.320 you said is the project manager of the Long Nail 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.040 Foundation's um clock of the Longmail project, which we're going 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.480 to talk about, And when he was doing his presentation, 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.079 he said mentioned Brian Eno and he said, who was 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.320 an ambient music guy? Is that what he called him? Yeah? 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.600 I was like, this is Brian Eno? Come on? What 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.920 did he write? Um? What was his album music for Spaceports? Uh? 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.519 Something like that? That was a solo thing after Roxy Music. 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.200 Yeah wait, Brian you know was in Roxy Music? Yeah? 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.720 I know, Brian Ferry was. They were, and they famously 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.680 butted heads and Brian Eno left I think after one 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.520 album did solo work until he hooked up with you 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.440 two and the Talking Heads and as an uber producer. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.920 Cool man, where you go, Chuck. Thanks, that was a 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.000 great explanation. Okay, Mr Brian the ambient music guy? Right? 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.920 But yeah, you're right, He's the one who coined the 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:58.560 the name the long now Um. And uh, this whole foundation, 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.320 this group of people, the long now Foundation or the 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:07.360 foundation of the long now Um, are dedicated to forcing 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.840 um hoisting upon humanity. Like you were saying, like just 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.240 the idea of slowing down, of taking a longer view 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.240 of everything, the long now. Yeah, And I think the 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.320 way they put it was to try and think in 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.080 the terms of if you live to be one thousand 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:31.200 years old, so long term thinking for the world is 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.320 better than short term thinking, although I would argue you 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.440 need both. You know what I'm saying, Yeah, because it's like, 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.240 because exactly when should I get out of the way 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.400 of the speeding car? We don't live to be a 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.240 thousand that is, but I do like you hear it 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.560 behind it, I have a question for you. Would you 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.080 want to live to be a thousand years old if 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.719 we aged like normally and would be like you don't 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:59.640 turn into the dungeon Master from the from the cartoon. Uh, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.280 you mean if it was like a thousand years old 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.560 would be the equivalent of like a hundred Heck, yeah, 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.400 would you really? Why not? Well? I can think of 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:15.480 a lot of reasons why not name one, Um, boredom 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:19.599 you'd be worried about boredom. Boredom. I mean, think about 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.280 all the stuff you can do in a century. Now, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.359 multiply that by ten. There's an amount of stuff to 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:30.839 do on this planet. Well, if you I think everybody 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.279 would end up with huge, massive drug problems by age four, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.279 you might be right, but hey, four year old should 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:46.440 be able to handle his h So okay, despite how 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.520 you feel about living, do a thousand long now foundation 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.360 is Um, they're kind of into that way of thinking. 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:56.599 Like you said that long term thinking can lead to 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.160 short term gain and a good example of this is 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.760 climb it change, right, So, UM, I think one of 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.720 the people who are on the side of who are 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:13.640 in favor of taking great action against climate change would 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.200 would say that, Um, if we can take steps now, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.000 if we can think further out, then you know, we'd 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.600 be able to mitigate this. But we're not. We're thinking 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:27.600 about very immediate concerns, which some are are reasonable, like 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.560 economic concerns, that kind of thing. But it's just two 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.000 schools of thought exactly. So, UM, you can kind of 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.880 understand where the long Now Foundation UH would side or 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.800 sit on that. UM, debate. But what they figured out 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.719 is that we basically we humans to think like this, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:51.440 we need something to um lead our minds in that direction, 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.360 because just saying like, man, what's it gonna be like 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.800 ten thousand years from now? It's like who cares? You know, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.560 I'm thinking about food, like I am literally right now. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.799 I just pose the question, and I'm thinking about food 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.880 already long term, right. But if they were saying, like 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.040 a two ft clock in front of me that I 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:16.160 knew was designed to tick off ten thousand years, I 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.840 might take a much longer view of things. A beacon, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.760 if you will, a beacon. Indeed, so the long Now 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.560 Foundation has undertaken its flagship projects and there's a bunch 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.160 of other projects to UM called the Clock of the 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.640 long Now a k a. The ten thousand year clock. 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.760 Very cool, Yeah, and I think it's pretty awesome. I 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.120 can tell you're a fan. Well, but if for no 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:42.680 other reason than to uh get attention for for their 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.560 foundation and their their school of thought, you know, right, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.560 And that's the whole point. Like, and it's gotten some 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.440 pretty good attention, I think, Um, A lot of people 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.840 have heard of the ten thousand year clock already. UM, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:02.280 But it's actually being created. One's already done a tabletop version. Yeah, 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.400 tabletop meaning eight ft. But the well, the prototype, um, 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.480 and the whole thing was proposed by a guy named 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:15.760 Danny Hillis. Um back in UH wrote in a like 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:20.880 a Wired magazine scenarios article, the idea for this, the 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.280 concept behind it, and um, there's been coome this kind 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.680 of rallying cry that he wants a cuckoo to come 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:31.360 out every millennium. Everybody that shows up in every article 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.840 I've read on it, that's what they say. That's his thing, like, 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.960 he wants a cuckoo to come out on the millennium. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.840 What's crazy is I don't see anywhere in here that 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.240 there actually will be a cuckoo. Yeah. I didn't see 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.240 that either. So poor Danny Hillis will have to wait. 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.880 But he's he's the guy behind the Long Nail Foundation, right. Yeah. 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.440 The first thing that I noticed when I look at 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.360 any of the writings about them and the long now 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:58.199 clock is the zero that they just placed in front 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:03.120 of the current year. So in when he wrote that article, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.800 he proposed, you know, not that they actually change it, 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.120 but the way they look at things is zero one, nine, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.400 nine five and Just seeing a date written in that 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.880 way kind of makes me breathe a little relief, because 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.320 all of a sudden, twenty twelve doesn't look like the future. 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.320 Oh to one two looks like, oh well, we got 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.440 a long way to go, like we're backwater Yokel's time wise. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.000 Yeah does that make sense? Oh yeah, totally, because I 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.120 think they said we've been around, like civilization has been 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.760 around for ten thousand years or so. So essentially this 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:42.200 clock would represent our entire past. Well yeah, moving forward. Yeah, 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.280 it would place us directly in the middle of two, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.480 which I love so which I was curious about. Why 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.560 they're not starting over then? Why not started zero years? 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:58.680 Clark's clock, um starts you want to name it a 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:03.360 Clark it's a millennium yea, uh maybe because they just 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.839 they don't want to disrespect you know, time served if 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.079 you will. But also so, what they've come up with 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.640 is a clock then that will run until the year 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.520 twelve thousand, twelve thousand, twelve twelve thousand and fifteen, depending 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.960 on how how fast they can get this thing built. Um, 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.440 but that's their idea, is to come up with a 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.680 ten thousand year clock, the clock that will run without 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:33.800 human intervention for ten thousand years one um that can 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:38.000 be easily understood by anybody. Um, which I think that 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.040 they could have done something slightly different with the design, 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:46.000 Like my eyes crossed when I look at like the face. Yeah, um, 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:50.120 I feel like I'm living in zero two one two um. 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.679 But there there's some challenges to all this, right, Like 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.640 there's humans haven't really made too many things, um that 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:02.040 have lasted ten thousand years yet. Yeah, why should this 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.520 be any different? Well, you you outlined a couple of 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.920 the base. I think they have the five basic principles 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.319 they were aiming for, and you outlined a couple of them. 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:13.400 There to work relatively free of regular maintenance? Was one? Uh, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.760 simple enough to maintain that if all of a sudden 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.080 we go into some post apocalyptic world where there's no technology, 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.520 we could still maintain it. Right, They were saying they 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.600 estimate it couldn't go back prior to the Bronze Age. 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.640 But as long as we have Bronze Age technology, which 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:35.080 begin and the hallmark of the Bronze Ages metallurgy and 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:40.880 um in black magic and of metal or separating ores 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.160 from metal and um uh metal alloys. Okay, Well if dude, 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.000 if we're sent back beyond the Bronze Age, then this 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:49.719 clock is not gonna matter very much. You know what 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:55.120 I'm saying. Uh, A close inspection of the operational principles 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:59.200 should reveal the principles behind its operation. It's a little 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.960 bit of word play there that sounds like Danny hillis 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.880 and then uh what else? No matter when someone comes 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.240 upon it, it should be able to be improved upon. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:13.000 And finally it should be able to be constructed small 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.480 enough to fit on a table. That's what the prototype. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.839 So success, Yeah, success, And then for the rest of them, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.360 they're they're kind of abandoning that because, like we said, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:23.439 this thing is going to be the one that's being 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.240 constructed right now, is going to be two ft tall. Yes, um, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.360 but looks like it I have ourselves, um powering such 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:35.160 a clock. There's if you're looking at ten thousand years, 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.160 I think it seems kind of likely that civilization will 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:45.040 suffer at least one collapse, if not several, And we 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.320 have no idea how far back humans will be set, 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.120 hopefully not for the Bronze Age. But um, so this 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:57.120 clock needs to somehow gain power from the environment, and 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.000 Danny hillis came up with a bunch of different ideas, right, 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.880 like atomic power. Yeah, most of that, Uh, that's poor 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:10.440 manageability and transparency. Most of these are scalability Like they 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.480 may have been good ideas, but they're just what too 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.960 large to fit their their needs either that there either 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:24.040 they're too big or they there already like they're perfect 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.760 for this clock, but you can't use that to power 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:30.560 Maybe if if something need if something's added on that 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.920 requires more power, t s. You already are using all 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.040 the power you can, or you can't scale it up 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.920 and it wouldn't work the same maybe exactly so that 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:45.400 would be chemical pre stored potential, geothermal, tidal, gravitational changes, 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:50.160 and seismic and plate tectonics. Those all had poor scalability, 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.439 so says Hill us Um, you can't use pressure change 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.560 because you would need like a bellows or a seal. 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:00.240 You want this thing to be as um simple as possable, 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.640 because as any engineer knows, the more moving parts you have, 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.520 the more parts you have that can break down. Um. 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.440 And the flow of water. That's a good one, right, 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.880 there should be water on the on the planet for 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.720 ten thousand years. Sorry, you're exposing the clock to water, 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:22.320 so inherently waters is self defeating energy source. Wind. Yeah, 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.640 any kind of exposure to weather. That's why this thing 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.080 is buried inside of a mountain, right, So what did 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.080 he come up with? He came up with two ideas 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:34.440 to power this humans. That's one. Yeah, human winding, that's one, 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.320 a novel idea. The other is temperature change, that's right, 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.040 but yeah, he wanted He said his favorite was human 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.840 winding because it fosters responsibility for the clock, which is 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.320 a great, great idea, I think, because ultimately the clock 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.120 is for humans, even though it's sequestered in a mountain 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.360 and it can run by itself for ten thousand years, 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.120 if no human ever lays eyes on it, it's for humans. 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.120 And we'll explain on that. If it sounds like we're 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.440 talking out above side to our amounts, will explain on 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:06.400 that by saying doesn't need humans. Yet, it doesn't need humans. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.400 I bet people can't wait. I could just feel attention. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.600 The hairs in the back of their necks bristly. All right. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.640 So for the prototype, um, it's sort of like an 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.160 old school clock in a way. Uh. They used to 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.440 helical weights, Uh, similar to the weight gravity systems just 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.080 like clock towers, old clock towers, and they drive the 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.760 energy going up and down these tubes which will drive 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:36.600 the pendulum, right yeah, um. And ultimately the prototype, the 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.400 drive assembly as you'd call it, Um, it served its purpose. 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.960 There was a prototype and that it said, okay, we 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.600 need to do something different, and they have. But for 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.160 the prototype, Yeah, there's helical weights we're not familiar with, 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:57.680 are you okay? Um, But the the prototype also still 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:02.600 had like a solar synchronizer, which we'll talk about later, um, 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.080 and a pendulum, which will also get a little more 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.360 into But the pendulum is kind of key to keeping 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.320 the time. We should do that now you want to Yeah, yeah, okay. 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.080 So back in the six D people were trying to 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.200 figure out how to keep time better than they have 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:25.320 him more accurately. UM. And somebody a Dutch astronomer. Back 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.440 in the day the best astronomers were Dutch Christian holligans. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.320 He said, hey, why don't you try using a pendulum 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:38.360 because a pendulum has pretty cool property and that the 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:43.800 only two um things that affect the swing of a pendulum. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.360 Nothing else affects the swinging of a Pendlum, not changes 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:52.360 in temperature, not humidity, not anything else except the force 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.240 of gravity and the length of the pendulum. I didn't 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.600 know this well I didn't either. Um, if you take 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.680 a pendulum and put it just about anywhere on Earth, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.560 you're gonna find that the gravitational field is is so 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.800 close to the same that a pendulum will swing the 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.919 same way anywhere on Earth. So the same rate to right, right, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.000 So what affects that rate The period, which is the 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.119 amount of time it takes for a pendulum to swing 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.879 all the way from one side to the other. So 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.520 not just one side, it's it's both. That's a pendulum period. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.600 So really the only thing that affects it is um, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.720 the length of the pendulum. Right. The shorter the pendulum, 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:35.520 the faster uh they go. The longer the pendulum usually uh, 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.280 the um the longer it takes. And once you get 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.520 a pendulum going, which doesn't require a lot, it will 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.960 keep going. Yes, it takes a very small amount of 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.600 energy input to keep it going, right, yeah, which is 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.480 perfect for something like a ten year clock. Right. So 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.159 if you put a pendulum and attached it to something 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.480 called an escapement, right, Yeah, this is a part I 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:58.679 got confused on. Okay, we'll check this out. So you 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.400 have a pendulum, and you've figured out the exact length 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.840 you need for a pendulumce period to take one second 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.120 to tick off one second on on a second hand. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.280 That's exactly right. So you can attach the pendulum to 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.359 this thing called an escapement. An escapement is just like 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.080 a wheel with some gears to it, right, And these 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.240 gears are attached to the second hand, Okay, and the 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.560 escapement is always wanting to go forward, but it's being 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.600 held in place by the pendulum, which is attached to 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:26.880 an anchor. But we'll just call it the pendulum, right, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.680 So as the pendulum swings one way, the escapement gear 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.960 is being held in place, and it's when it swings 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.120 the other way, which is the end of a second, 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.000 the pendulum opens up, allowing the escapement gear to take 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.800 forward one tooth, thus moving the second hand forward one 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.399 movement in a second. So that's how you do it. 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.119 And if you're very, very clever, you can design the 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:57.400 escapement gear so that as it moves, as it escapes, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.040 it also nudges that anchor that's a touched to the pendulum, 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.720 transferring energy back to the pendulum to keep it swinging 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:08.800 and that's basically the basics of a clock, mechanical clock, right, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:11.080 and that's what they use for the ten thousand year 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.159 clock too, very smartly inappropriately to Yeah. I love how 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.600 when they do design something to work ten thousand years 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.640 they go back to bronze age and well this wasn't 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.080 bronze age, but a lot of just old mechanical technology. 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:27.439 Well yeah, I mean it's I think we've advanced in 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.920 a lot. I mean, if you're gonna make a digital clock, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.159 yeah we know what we're doing, but how are you 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.240 going to power it? And you want to just use 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:40.080 some really old, perfect technology exactly? That's called long thinking, Josh. 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:46.400 So we've got winding and temperature changes, differences in temperature 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.280 changes that are powering this clock, now right, that's right, um. 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.080 And then those are the two principles that are powering 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.320 the clock. And there are different parts of the clock 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.880 that need to be powered, like your favorite the Geneva wheels, 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:03.160 right Yeah, Aneva wheel sounds intimidating a Geneva drive until 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.800 you look it up on YouTube and see what it is, 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.159 and it's really just um. And it can come in 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.320 all kinds of shapes and in this case, it's sort 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:15.680 of the shape of a star, and it's imagine each 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:17.800 point of a star has a notch cut in it, 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.440 and sitting underneath that is a is a wheel, a 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.239 drive wheel that spins with a peg coming out of it, 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.800 and it slips into the little slot on the star, 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.159 advancing it one little click, keeps turning and and spins 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.160 out of it and then by the time it comes 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.239 back around, it slips back into the next one. So 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.359 it's just a slow ticking around in a circle. Right, 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.760 And so there's I think twenty of these for the 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.719 big clock. But they're designed with a bunch of holes 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:50.080 in a pins and holes system basically, which essentially is 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:55.480 making a mechanical Babbage Babbage difference engine like an early computer, 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.720 like a punch hole computer. Yeah. Right, they use before calculators. 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.679 They is mechanical summers or actors, and this is you. 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.080 But it's adding in binary ones and zeros. So it's 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:12.560 carrying out digital calculations through mechanical means, which is astounding. 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:17.040 And they're using this astounding technology to power basically what 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.119 um in this article that we're reading. It's the world's 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:24.679 slowest computer, and that computer is being used to calculate, uh, 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.840 an algorithm that will produce a different chime using ten 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.320 different chimes or two bells, um so that this thing 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:37.520 supposedly will never make the same chime twice. Yeah. I 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.960 think the algorithm maxes out at three point five million 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:45.120 chimes of course, designed composed by Brian Eno, the ambient 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.320 music guy, right and uh and that that doesn't have 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.760 anything to do with the powering of the clock. That's 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.119 just the chimes. No, but the dirty secret of the 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.960 Long Mouth Foundation is that three point five million different 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:03.879 possible chime tones uh or combinations is about ninety thousand 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.600 days short of ten thousand years. Oh really, yeah, it 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:11.240 wasn't ninety thousand days and years. I don't know, you 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.800 have a binary add we need some Geneva wheels in here. 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:20.680 Stat Well, they're not telling anyone that though obviously no 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:24.240 they did actually wired. Yeah, They're like, you know, this 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:27.520 thing's not gonna chime every day, so I'm sure it'll 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.680 be fine, Okay, But basically no one's speaking to probably 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:36.160 Needo right now. He's been demoted to ambient music guy 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:40.760 from legendary producer. Uh. So the prototype, that's the prototype. 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:43.280 It's eight ft tall roughly eight and a half. It 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.000 is um at the Science Museum in London. You can 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:51.119 go see it there. And it first started ticking on 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:56.399 December thirty first, nineteen or O one if you're a 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:00.040 long hour, and it worked the gong twice at the 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.960 turn of the millennium to indicate that two millenniums are 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:08.600 now past, which is funny because technically the millennium didn't 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.280 start until two one. That's true. But they don't care. 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.119 They don't care about a lot of stuff I'm finding out. Uh, 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:18.600 So let's talk about the real deal when this article 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:21.280 is written. The real deal was just proposed and it 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:23.520 was going to be about sixty ft tall. That was 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.119 two years ago. Well, that one is the one in Nevada. 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:30.080 I think that's still gonna be sixty. They just decided 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:33.240 to start on the Texas one first, gotcha because Bezos 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.240 was like, Hey, here's forty two million bucks, can we 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:37.240 get started? Well, go ahead and spill the means there. 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:41.080 I just Jeffrey Bezos, founder of Amazon dot com, UH 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.359 is heavily involved in this, to the tune of money 0:23:43.480 --> 0:23:46.879 and UH it being built on a mountain inside a 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:51.160 mountain in West Texas, on his property. Yeah, so he 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:54.119 he owns it sort of kind of. I get the 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:57.000 impression that, yes, he definitely has This project is his, 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.399 but it's one of many that are going to be 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:02.560 built around the world, Like they got approval to build 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:06.960 one in a Smithsonian just this past year. Um and 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:09.520 uh also Bezos by the way, he said that the 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.680 two are unrelated. It's just a cool coincidence or whatever. 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:16.000 But he's also building a spaceport by the mountain too, 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:19.920 and he says that's unrelated to the clock. Yeah, he 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:23.000