Amazon CEO Shares Video of 10,000-Year Clock's Construction

What do billionaire tech CEOs practise in their free time? The head of Amazon has been busy edifice a giant clock.

On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos released a video of his pet projection: a 500-pes tall timekeeper located in Texas that intends to run for 10,000 years. "Installation has begun," Amazon's CEO said in his tweet.

Installation has begun—500 ft tall, all mechanical, powered by twenty-four hour period/night thermal cycles, synchronized at solar noon, a symbol for long-term thinking—the #10000YearClock is coming together thx to the genius of Danny Hillis, Zander Rose & the whole Clock team! Enjoy the video. pic.twitter.com/FYIyaUIbdJ
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 20, 2022

The project may sound odd and antiquated in today'due south digital age. But to Bezos, the elaborate timepiece is meant to convey a message: the thought of long-term responsibility.

"Equally I see it, humans are now technologically avant-garde plenty that we can create non but extraordinary wonders merely likewise civilization-scale problems," he wrote in a post about the projection. "We're likely to need more long-term thinking."

The idea for the ten,000-year clock actually originated back in 1986 with Danny Hillis, an American computer scientist. He besides was concerned that society had developed a "mental barrier" to long-term thinking, and so he co-founded a foundation to sponsor its construction.

It wasn't until 2022 when Bezos' interest in the project also emerged. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Amazon's CEO revealed he had spent at to the lowest degree $42 million on the clock.

The high price tag probably has something to exercise with how it works. Bezos is building the device within a mountain on property he owns. To run for x,000 years, the timepiece will harness the power of the temperature deviation from the top of the mount down to the bottom. Long metallic rods can transfer the thermal power to the interior of the clock.

"Every bit long as the dominicus shines and night comes, the clock can continue time itself, without human help," the developers have said. Even so, human visitors tin can current of air upward the giant device too.

Bezos 10,000 year clock

The new video from Bezos shows construction workers lowering diverse gears through the shaft in the mountain. They've as well installed a giant bong for the clock's pendulum.

Information technology'll accept "many years" before the project is finally done, according to Bezos. But the upcoming monument will be open to the public.

Those who make the trip are in for a trek. The project resides several hours away past car from the nearest airport. You lot'll as well have to climb a rugged foot trail to achieve it. "Visiting the clock will accept a commitment," Bezos wrote in his postal service.