Kevin Kelly and Stewart Brand on the Long Now

I went to see Kevin Kelly and Stewart Brand speak at the Commonwealth Club last night. They talked about their new endeavor, the Long Bets Foundation, which provides a “public arena for enjoyably competitive predictions, of interest to society, with philanthropic money at stake”. Accountability and continuity are the keys here, two things largely missing from society these days, especially when you look online.

Overall, I’m a big fan of the Long Now projects that Kelly and Brand are involved with (like the 10,000 Year Clock, the Rosetta Project, and the All Species Foundation). Getting people thinking about these long term projects might help stimulate new thinking and perspectives about some long term projects we’re already involved with (raising a family, building cities, living a lifetime, building societies).