The 10,000 Year Clock
These are the principles that Danny Hillis used in the initial stages of designing a 10,000 Year Clock. We have found these are generally good principles for designing anything to last a long time.
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Longevity
With occasional maintenance, the clock should reasonably be expected to display the correct time for the next 10,000 years.
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Maintainability
The clock should be maintainable with bronze-age technology.
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Transparency
It should be possible to determine operational principles of the clock by close inspection.
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Evolvability
It should be possible to improve the clock with time.
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Scalability
It should be possible to build working models of the clock from table-top to monumental size using the same design.