Using the designing and building of the Clock of the Long Nowas a framework, this is a book about the practical use of long timeperspective: how to get it, how to use it, how to keep it in andout of sight. Here are the central questions it inspires: * How dowe make long-term thinking automatic and common instead ofdifficult and rare? * Discipline in thought allows freedom. Oneneeds the space and reliability to predict continuity to have theconfidence not to be afraid of revolutions * Taking the time tothink of the future is more essential now than ever, as cultureaccelerates beyond its ability to be measured * Probable things arevastly outnumbered by countless near-impossible eventualities.Reality is statistically forced to be extraordinary; fiction is notallowed this freedom This is a potent book that combines thechronicling of fantastic technology with equally visionaryphilosophical inquiry.