I’ve heard this piece, created by Arthur Ganson, described several times—and every single time it makes my head spin:

He showed a video of “Machine with Concrete.” On the left an electric motor drives a worm gear at 212 revolutions a minute. A sequence of twelve 50-to-1 gear reductions slows the rotation so far that the last gear, on the right, is set in concrete. It would take over two trillion years for that gear to rotate. “Intense activity on one end, quiet stillness on the other,” Ganson said. “It’s a duality I feel in my own being.”

Also, here’s a smile-bringer. The setting is the latest Long Now lecture, and…

During the Q&A, Alexander Rose asked the full-house audience how many of them of were makers of things. Ninety percent raised their hands in joy.