Does Democracy Inhibit Long-Term Thinking? March 9, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/02/01/Long-Term_Thinking_in_the_Next_10000_Years

Is democracy less conducive to long-term thinking as compared to other forms of government, such as monarchy? Alexander Rose, Executive Director of The Long Now Foundation, says yes. He describes democracy as a "churning system" that has inherent limits when trying to adequately plan for problems in the distant future.

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Long Finance is an initiative begun in 2007 to establish a World Centre Of Thinking On Long-Term Finance. The initiative began with a question - "When would we know our financial system is working?" - which challenges a system that can't provide today's 20-year-olds with a reliable financial retirement structure. The aim of the Long Finance Institute is "to improve society's understanding and use of finance over the long-term."

The research project proposals range from theory versus practice or fiscal versus monetary to sustainability versus robustness. The iconic project for Long Finance is the Eternal Coin, with the objective of starting a global debate about society's values over the long-term.

This is the second event that Gresham College has co-hosted, where learning from the sister Long Now organization and its 10,000 Year Clock Project.

As the director of the Long Now Foundation, Alexander Rose has facilitated projects such as the 10,000 Year Clock with Danny Hillis, the Rosetta Project, Long Bets, Seminars About Long Term Thinking, Long Server and others. Rose shares several design patents on the 10,000 Year Clock with Danny Hillis, the first prototype of which is in the Science Museum of London.

Hired as the first employee of the foundation in February of 1997, Rose has been an artist in residence at Silicon Graphics Inc., a project manager for Shamrock Communications, and a founding partner of Inertia Labs. Rose attended the Art Center College of Design and graduated with a bachelor of arts honors degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Industrial Design in 1995.