A panel discussion by Long Now Boston celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and looking forward to the next 250 years and what they may bring to the Boston Area.

The inaugural meeting of the Deep Time Reading Group was a good time with lots of great ideas from all participants! Going forward, meetings will be held the first Sunday of the month at 2pm at Cafe Zing in Porter Square.

Long Now Boston joins Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library in welcoming Christine Webb—primatologist at Harvard’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology—for a discussion of her new book The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters. This event will take place at the Harvard Science Center, Hall D, located at 1 Oxford St, Cambridge. Following the presentation will be a reception and book signing in the Cabot Science Library across the hall from the presentation room.

Steve Strassmann's talk with Long Now Boston explores how large complex systems—biological, political, and artificial—fail through what he calls "governance disease," drawing provocative parallels between cancer, political dysfunction, and AI development. His central thesis is that evolution works at two conflicting scales: individuals competing within groups (seeking promotions, resources, advantages) versus groups competing in external environments (facing predators, competitors, existential threats). When individuals gain the ability to change the rules that govern the group—what happens in both cancer cells and corrupted institutions—the system breaks down.

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and Long Now Boston welcome Peter Brannen for a discussion of his new book. He will be joined in conversation by Phoebe Cohen—paleontologist, science communicator, and Professor of Geosciences at Williams College. 

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, Long Now Boston, and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Shahir S. Rizk and Maggie M. Fink for a discussion of their new book The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life.

You're invited to a unique summer gathering at the lakefront farm of Danny Hillis and Taylor Milsal: conversation, fun and big ideas!

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, Long Now Boston, and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Lisa S. Gardiner—science writer, geoscientist, educator, and author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change—for a discussion of her book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival.

At Long Now Boston’s “What is Green Burial?” program on July 20, Michelle Hogle Acciavatti, founder of Vermont Forest Cemetery, along with Regina Harrison, director of sales at historic Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, addressed everything you’ve ever wondered about green, or natural, burial but were afraid to ask.

Please join Long Now Boston and Porter Square Books to welcome Riley Black for the release of her latest book, When the Earth was Green, a gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth. Writer Evan Urquhart will join Black in the fascinating conversation.

Long Now Boston had an awe-inspiring evening at the Harvard College Observatory on Jan 27, 02025.   We had excellent presentations by Philippe Reekie leading us through the Observatory's history and his own research into the possibility of extraterrestrial life – how organic molecules and microbes could be preserved for millennia in salt crystals, and Thom Burns and Lisa Bravata of the Harvard Plate Stacks at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, showing off some of their beautiful, rare early astrophotographs, and offering glimpses into the rich history of astronomical discovery, focusing on the women who did a large share of the work and the preservation efforts needed to maintain this collection of valuable historical assets.

Long Now Boston and the Harvard Bookstore welcomed journalist Kyle Paoletta for a packed reading and discussion of his new book, “American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the American Southwest,“  (which was officially released by Pantheon that same day).