The Interval at Long Now

11/19/2025

Times of fragmentation call for a legible sense of order.

We’re pleased to introduce the 02025 issue of Pace Layers, Long Now’s annual print journal of long-term thinking.

Pace Layers explores the ancient past and distant future of the present moment through essays, interviews, talks, poetry, and visual art. The journal takes its name and shape from Long Now cofounder Stewart Brand’s pace layers framework — a tool for thinking about how civilizations work.
Inside the 02025 issue:

- Essays from , , Benjamin Bratton, and Sara Imari Walker () consider how to define and differentiate intelligence, computation, and identity in the face of synthetic minds, while a new piece by Josh Berson focuses on very human conceptions of meaning and taste.

- Long Now Talks by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson, & Kate Raworth, and Stephen Heintz & Kim Stanley Robinson chart new roadmaps to economic and geopolitical consensus.

- Artworks and essays from Jonathon Keats, Ian van Coller, and Anne Heggli explore the intersection of art, science, and climate stewardship at 11,000 feet at Long Now’s Nevada Bristlecone Preserve.

- Stunning visuals from photographer and adventurer , Long Now’s Artist-in-Residence, illuminate humanity’s relationship with time, capturing the fragility and resilience of civilization.

- An excerpt from Stewart Brand’s new book, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, reminds us to pay heed to Pete Seeger’s wise words: “You should consider that the essential art of civilization is maintenance.”

Last year’s issue sold out overnight. Availability is limited — see the link in bio get your copy now.

11/19/2025

11/07/2025

How the brain’s ability to model creates explosions in intelligence, from 's Long Now Talk.

10/14/2025

[LIVESTREAM] Tonight (Tuesday 10/14), Dr. Lynn J. Rothschild of NASA's Ames Research Center explores the bleeding edge of synthetic and evolutionary biology on Earth and beyond.

Tune in live at 7pm PT:

What if the solutions to humanity's greatest challenges — on Earth and beyond — have already been invented by nature? While engineers and designers in tradit...

10/13/2025

Nothing says Halloween like Absinthe, and brains...

Absinthe liquor has a reputation as a spooky goth mystery ingredient, once thought capable of causing hallucinations. Banned in the United States in the early 1900s for its aforementioned side-effects, Absinthe has been the je ne sais quoi of many cocktails such as the Co**se Reviver, Sazerac, Death In the Afternoon, and even our Ottoman Crash.

October’s short here: “Looks like brains” is the sorcery of our own who brings the spooky with Absinthe Verte, Amaretto, and Vodka, shaken with cream and lemon for a smooth brain-like texture, and a few drops of black food coloring for the distinct appearance of gray matter.

While we can’t promise hallucinations, we can promise a ghoulishly delicious cocktail, just in time for Halloween.

10/01/2025

Jane Goodall radically changed how we understand and relate to other intelligences on Earth. In her 02019 Talk, Elizabeth Lonsdorf explores how Goodall's approach left lasting impacts on primatology and many other fields of study:

Elizabeth Lonsdorf shares the story of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, two of the three ‘Trimates’ who revolutionized the field of primatology with their studi...

08/22/2025

A sip of Autumn.

Umami perfection is found in August’s “Short Here” cocktail created by . Carrot Tea infused Vodka, Kombu simple syrup, and Nori steeped Blanc Vermouth stirred with a Lemon Peel, all garnished with slices of pickled carrot - a California Roll inspired riff on the “Martinez”.

Join us this weekend to catch a sip.

07/24/2025

Join The Interval team.

If you have a passion for hospitality, craft cocktails, and engaging with a curious, intellectually driven community, you may be The Interval’s next bartender. We are now accepting applications.

07/15/2025

Beauty and the Book. From the very beginning, the Interval was designed to be both a place for intellectual thought as-well-as a place of beauty. So it is with great pride that we have been nominated by as one of the most beautiful book-cafés in the world.

With our recent decennial, the revival of our exhibition space, and our carefully maintained manual for civilization, has never been better.

But we need your help. Voting for the awards ends today, and your vote will help secure a spot as the one of the most beautiful book-cafés in the world.

Follow Link in Bio to Vote today!

02/20/2025

How will AI shape our understanding of ourselves?

Join us next week for a Long Now Talk from K Allado-McDowell on Neural Media, February 25, 7 PM at the Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

K's work as a technologist, writer, and musician has explored how our technocultural media regimes shape our creativity and self-perception. Against the backdrop of climate change and mass extinction, neural media like AI present unique challenges and opportunities. K has pioneered neural media, founding the Artists + Machine Intelligence at Google and writing books and composing operas in collaboration with non-human agents. Their work has tested the limits and potentials of these new technological forces. K Allado-McDowell’s work confronts those opportunities with deep engagement, forging a path ahead to a merging of planetary, computational, and human perspectives.

06/21/2024

Interval Decennial.

This summer marks the ten year anniversary of The Long Now Foundation’s bar, cafe, and event space — The Interval. To commemorate The Interval’s Decennial, we’re reimagining The Interval as not just an award-winning cocktail bar, but as an exhibition on long-term thinking.

Over the past decade, The Interval has become a hub for long-term thinking, a home for Long Now Talks, and a gathering place for great conversation and connection.

But The Interval could be so much more. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re re-opening The Interval this September with a brand new exhibition featuring artifacts from Long Now’s history and a vision for our future.

The exhibition will tell the story of long-term thinking in a way that connects deeply with both long-time Long Now members and with first-time visitors to The Interval for whom these concepts might be entirely new.

At the core of the exhibition is a painting by Casey Cripe illustrating the long now: the past 10,000 years and the 10,000 years to come.
The Interval will close on Wednesday, August 21 to install the new exhibition and reopen on Saturday, September 7. We also hope you’ll join us on September 14 and 15 for The Interval Decennial Member Weekend. Become a Long Now member to learn more.

Whether you’re a regular at The Interval or still looking forward to your first visit, we’re excited to welcome you to our reimagined home for long-term thinking.

Link in Bio for excellent article and details about the Decennial by >