Long Now

Is it possible to preserve and read memories after someone has died? Robert McIntyre thinks it is, and that the technology is closer than most people realize. His company [_Nectome_](https://nectome.com/) is working on documenting the physical properties of memory formation, and studying ways to preserve those physical properties after death. McIntyre has already won the Brain Preservation Institutes' [_"Small Mammal"_](https://www.brainpreservation.org/small-mammal-announcement/) & [_"Large Mammal"_](https://www.brainpreservation.org/large-mammal-announcement/) prizes for preserving a full brain down to the synaptic level, and is now taking the next steps in figuring out how to decode those synapses. These are early experiments, but this is the type of work that will be required if we are someday able to preserve a mind and memories past biological death. Robert McIntyre is a former AI researcher at MIT, where he worked with Marvin Minsky, Patrick Winston, and Gerald Sussman studying the role of embodiment in AI. He left MIT in 02015 to compete for the Brain Preservation Prizes, and is currently CEO of Nectome, a company he founded to further develop brain preservation technology.

Companies that operate with a long-term mindset tend to outperform their peers over time. But the pressure to achieve short-term quarterly gains often works against longer-term sustainable growth, and can push even the most visionary company into a short-term mindset. In 02019, the Long-Term Stock Exchange was approved as the country’s 14th and newest stock exchange. It offers a new framework for companies to raise capital while keeping their focus on long-term results. By requiring participating companies to accept a set of governance standards and incentive systems that deprioritize the short-term, the Long-Term Stock Exchange hopes to reward investments and business strategies that focus on a longer time horizon. Eric Ries is the founder and CEO of Long-Term Stock Exchange. He created the Lean Startup methodology and is author of _The Lean Startup_ and _The Startup Way_. Ries founded IMVU and served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, IDEO, and Pivotal.

The future is a kind of history that hasn’t happened yet. The past is a kind of future that has already happened. The present moment vanishes before it can be described. Language, a human invention, lacks the power to fully adhere to reality. We live in a very short now and here, since the flow of events in spacetime is mostly closed to human comprehension. But we have to say something about the future, since we have to live there. So what can we say? Being “futuristic” is a problem in metaphysics; it’s about getting language to adhere to an unknowable reality. But the futuristic quickly becomes old-fashioned, so how can the news stay news? [Bruce Sterling](https://www.wired.com/category/beyond_the_beyond/) is a futurist, journalist, science-fiction author, and culture critic. He is the author of more than 20 books including ground-breaking science ficiton and non-fiction about hackers, design and the future. He was the editor in 01986 of Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (1986) which brought the cyberpunk science fiction sub-genre to a much wider audience. He previous spoke for Long Now about ["The Singularity: Your Future as a Black Hole"](https://longnow.org/seminars/02004/jun/11/the-singularity-your-future-as-a-black-hole/) in 02004. His [Beyond the Beyond](http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/) blog on Wired.com is now in its 15th year. His most recent book is [_Pirate Utopia_](https://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Utopia-Bruce-Sterling/dp/1616962364).

[Fred Lyon](http://www.fredlyon.com/) is a time traveler with a camera and tales to tell. At 94-years-old, this former LIFE magazine photographer and fourth generation San Franciscan has an eye for the city and stories to match. We showed photos from Fred's books [_San Francisco, Portrait of a City: 1940-1960_](https://www.papress.com/html/product.details.dna?isbn=9781616892661 "San Francisco, Portrait of a City 1940-1960") and [_San Francisco Noir_](https://www.papress.com/html/product.details.dna?isbn=9781616896515 "San Francisco Noir"), and images spanning his diverse career. In conversation he discusses his art, work, and life; recollections of old friends like Herb Caen and Trader Vic Bergeron; and more, sharing his unique perspective after nearly a century in San Francisco. Fred Lyon's career began in the early 01940's and has spanned news, architecture, advertising, wine and food photography. In the golden years of magazine publishing his picture credits were everywhere from LIFE to VOGUE and beyond. These days find him combing his picture files for galleries, publishers and print collectors. He has been called _San Francisco's Brassa i_. He's also been compared to Cartier Bresson, Atget and Andre Kertez, but all with a San Francisco twist. That's fine with this lifelong native who happily admits his debt to those icons.

The ambition to think on the scale of thousands, millions, even billion of years emerged in the 19th century. Historian and author [Caroline Winterer](https://history.stanford.edu/people/caroline-winterer) chronicles how the concept of “deep time” has inspired and puzzled thinkers in cognitive science, art, geology (and elsewhere) to become one of the most influential ideas of the modern era. [Caroline Winterer](https://history.stanford.edu/people/caroline-winterer) is Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Stanford Humanities Center. She is an American historian, with special expertise in American thought and culture. Her most recent book is _American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason_. Other books include _The Mirror of Antiquity: American Women and the Classical Tradition, 1750-1900_ , and _The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910_. She has received fellowships from among others the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Humanities Center. Her writing appears in numerous publications and academic journals. For mapping the social network of Benjamin Franklin she received an American Ingenuity Award from the Smithsonian Institution.

As the world is becoming more technologically connected, finding time for oneself and face-to-face connections is becoming increasingly difficult. Many of our talks at Long Now have aimed to help expand our collective now by centuries or even millennia, but what about our personal present? [ _Tiffany Shlain's_](http://www.tiffanyshlain.com/) new book [_24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day A Week_](https://www.24sixlife.com/) discusses one way to slow down and be more engaged: a technological shabbat, or day of rest. She explains some of the neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and history of this 3000 year old concept, and how it can help promote creativity in our busy world. Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards and author of _24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day A Week_. Tiffany’s films and work have received over 80 awards and distinctions including being selected for the Albert Einstein Foundation _Genius:100 Visions of the Future_. She lectures worldwide on the relationship between technology and humanity.

What does practical long-term thinking look like? Bina Venkataraman’s new book, [_The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age_](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735219472), brings this abstract question to life. Through a series of anecdotes and case studies that draw from her background in public policy, climate change strategy, and journalism, Venkataraman explores pragmatic tactics that can help us think more clearly about our long-term future. Bina Venkataraman is the editorial page editor of _The Boston Globe_. Before joining the _Globe_ , she served as a senior adviser for climate change innovation in the Obama White House, was the director of Global Policy Initiatives at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and taught in the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at MIT.

Recent data shows damage from climate change rapidly increasing. There are many scientifically proposed methods (from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.K. Royal Society, and the American Geophysical Union among others) for directly reducing atmospheric heat. Yet to date there are still no formal research programs or capabilities to further explore these geoengineering ideas. What are the potential risks and benefits? How do we balance this effort vs. emissions reduction and restoring the natural system? Kelly Wanser of [SilverLining](https://www.silverlining.ngo) discusses her work advocating, educating and coordinating research on this important effort to combat climate change. Kelly Wanser, as Executive Director of [SilverLining](https://www.silverlining.ngo), helps drive research that will ensure safe pathways for climate for people and ecosystems within the coming decade. She works to accelerate adoption of technologies that help us understand and manage climate as a complex systems problem. Ms. Wanser works closely with leading scientists, engineers, technologists and government leaders on efforts to increase research and accelerate progress on reducing atmospheric heat. She testified before the U.S. House Space, Science and Technology Committee as part of a panel on "Geoengineering: Innovation, Research, and Technology." She serves as Board Director for BioCarbon Engineering, who use drone and AI technology to help restore ecosystems, and is a Senior Advisor to BlackBirch, whose hyper-local data helps companies manage weather risk.

Long Now board member Esther Dyson shares her ongoing work to move communities away from short-term thinking and into health. In conversation with previous Interval speaker [Kara Platoni](http://www.karaplatoni.com/), she discusses how short-term desire is addiction, affecting not just individuals but institutions and culture. Dyson’s founded the 10-year [Wellville](http://wellville.net) project, now underway in five communities across the US, to tap into people’s natural resilience and build long-term desire: purpose. [Esther Dyson](http://www.edventure.com/) is a Long Now Board member, founder of [Wellville](http://www.wellville.net/), and chairman of EDventure Holdings. She is an active angel investor, best-selling author, board member and advisor concentrating on emerging markets and technologies, new space and health. She sits on the boards of 23andMe and is an investor in Crohnology, Eligible API, Keas, Omada Health, Sleepio, and StartUp Health, among others. For 6 months in 02008-02009, Esther lived outside Moscow, Russia, training as a backup cosmonaut. [Kara Platoni](http://www.karaplatoni.com/) is a science reporter who has traveled around the world interviewing scientists and biohackers. She is lecturer and assistant dean for students at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She has spoken twice at The Interval: [once about her book](https://theinterval.org/salon-talks/02016/mar/01/transforming-perception-one-sense-time) _We Have the Technology_ and also as part of our [Scurvy Salon event](https://theinterval.org/salon-talks/02017/may/16/scurvy-still-us).

Millennia before engineering or software, robots and artificial intelligence were brought to life in Greek myths. The author of [_Gods and Robots Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology_](https://press.princeton.edu/titles/14162.html) traces the link between technology and tyranny from modern day concerns over AI to back to antiquities fear of beings were "made, not born.” [Adrienne Mayor](https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Mayor.html) is a folklorist and historian of ancient science who investigates natural knowledge contained in pre-scientific myths and oral traditions. She has been at Stanford University since 02006; [_Gods and Robots_](https://press.princeton.edu/titles/14162.html) (2018) is her most recent book. Her other books include _The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times_ (2000); _Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World_ (2003); _The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women_ (2014); and a biography of Mithradates, _The Poison King_ (2010), a National Book Award finalist. She is a 02018-19 Berggruen Fellow at the [Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences](http://casbs.stanford.edu/) (CASBS), co-sponsors of this talk. While at CASBS she is continuing her investigations about how imagination is a link between myths about technology and science. Other projects include researching interdisciplinary topics in geomythology, to discover natural knowledge and scientific realities embedded in mythological traditions about nature.