We are one tool away from learning which distant planets already have life on them and which might be welcoming to life. MIT Planetary Scientist Sara Seager is working on the tool. She is chair of the NASA team developing a “Starshade” that would allow a relatively rudimentary space telescope to observe Earth-size planets directly, […]

The written word has transformed humanity. Ideas now outlast their creators. Knowledge builds on knowledge across generations. The author of “Wool” and “The Bern Saga” asks: “How will texts survive deep time? What does the library of tomorrow look like?” “The Library That Lasts” was given on July 28, 02015 as part of The Long

Techno thriller meets realistic optimism. Ramez Naam, a former Microsoft executive with 19 patents to his name, wrote a riveting just-completed science fiction trilogy (“Nexus”, “Crux”, and “Apex”) that plays out current trends in brain enhancement. As Naam reports in a recent blog, “Neural implants could accomplish things no external interface could: Virtual and augmented

Dr. Maryanne Wolf shares her research on the reading brain: its protean capacities; its surprising differences (e.g., in dyslexia); and its changes for good and ill in a digital culture. “The Changing Reading Brain in a Digital Culture” was given on July 14, 02015 as part of The Long Now Foundation’s “Conversations at The Interval”

Rick Prelinger uncovers the diverse histories of
Bay Area telecommunications infrastructure: telephone, radio, television, data, image and sound. A tour of technologies, dead and flourishing, that overlay, underlay and penetrate us all. “Bay Area Telecommunications Infrastructure History” was given on June 16, 02015 as part of The Long Now Foundation’s “Conversations at The Interval” Salon Talks.

Neil’s talk will explore the way stories, myths and tales survive over great lengths of time and why creating for the future means making works that will endure within the oral tradition. Preternaturally eloquent, Neil Gaiman has told stories in every medium—graphic novels (“The Sandman”), novels (“The Ocean at the End of the Lane”; “American

A working and teaching blacksmith for over thirty years, James Austin specializes in making Viking age axes using traditional methods. “21st Century Iron Age” was given on June 02, 02015 as part of The Long Now Foundation’s “Conversations at The Interval” Salon Talks. These hour long talks are recorded live at The Interval, our bar,

A special daytime talk by celebrated speculative fiction author
 Neal Stephenson on the occasion of his just released novel “SEVENEVES”. After a reading, Long Now co-founder Stewart Brand joins Neal to discuss the research and writing of the new book, plus a little bit about what is coming next. “Seveneves at The Interval” was given

Beth Shapiro is far from a giddy enthusiast about de-extinction. She knows more than nearly anyone about the subject because she is a highly regarded biologist in the middle of the two leading efforts in the new field—to resurrect extinct woolly mammoths and passenger pigeons. She knows exactly how challenging the whole process will be

Through building and analyzing systems, D. Fox Harrell: http://foxharrell.com’s research investigates how the computer can be used to express cultural meanings through data-structures and algorithms. In his talk he showed that identities are complicated by their intersection with technologies like social networking, gaming, and virtual worlds. Data-structures and algorithms in video games and social media