By Megan Mansell Williams

Stewart Brand of Whole Earth Catalog fame visited Berkeley in March to give a UC Regents Lecture entitled, “Rethinking Green: How Can Information Replace Energy and Finesse the Biosphere?”

Brand in 1968 published the Whole Earth Catalog, whose cover shot of the watery planet and do-it-yourself philosophy helped launch the environmental movement. That landmark year, he also assisted Doug Engelbart (M.S.’53, Ph.D.’55 EECS) with his mother of all demos and landed in the pages of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

As president of the Long Now Foundation, Brand is currently working with computer scientist Danny Hillis to build the Clock of the Long Now, which aims to keep time for 10,000 years. We asked for his thoughts on a few key issues.

Q: What is engineering’s greatest potential contribution in the 21st century?
A: Helping fix climate change with geoengineering.

Q: What is technology’s greatest missed opportunity in the last century?
A: Nuclear technology was allowed to stall halfway between military and civilian application.

Q: How can we teach young people to think long term?
A: Teach science.