Doomsday Clock Moves One Minute Closer to Armageddon

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Doomsday Clock Moves One Minute Closer to Armageddon



The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists agreed the world is less safe than it was two years ago.

The atomic bomb was developed by scientists from all levels of academia, and in response to the destruction they wrought, a group of atomic scientists imagined the idea of a Doomsday Clock. The Clock uses the simple imagery of a countdown to midnight to symbolize the peril humans face on our world, with the minute hand moving closer or farther away based on current events. Since it was created in 1947, the Clock has been moved 20 times, the last of which was in 2010 when the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States filled the world with hope. This week, the Doomsday Clock moved back to its position before 2010 - set at 5 minutes to midnight - because of the perceived lack of action on curtailing global warming and reducing nuclear weapons.

"It is five minutes to midnight," the official statement from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) read. "Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed."

"Faced with clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation and climate change, and the need to find sustainable and safe sources of energy, world leaders are failing to change business as usual," said Lawrence Krauss, a board member of the BAS.

"The global community may be near a point of no return in efforts to prevent catastrophe from changes in Earth's atmosphere," said Allison Macfarlane, a BAS member from George Mason University. "Since fossil-fuel burning power plants and infrastructure built in 2012-2020 will produce energy-and emissions-for 40 to 50 years, the actions taken in the next few years will set us on a path that will be impossible to redirect. Even if policy leaders decide in the future to reduce reliance on carbon-emitting technologies, it will be too late."

In 1947, the Clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight, but it quickly moved to 2 minutes after both the U.S. and the Sovieet Union tested nuclear weapons. Despite the Bay of Pigs incident in Cuba, the Clock reached one of its highest settings in 1963 at 12 minutes to midnight, before eventually falling to 3 minutes in the 80s at the height of the Cold War. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union allowed the Doomsday Clock to be set the farthest away from midnight - 17 minutes - in 1991. That hopeful feeling slowly eroded away as nations like Pakistan, India and North Korea developed nuclear weapons to 5 minutes to midnight in 2007.

While I find the image of the Doomsday Clock compelling, all the Clock really is just a bunch of scientists trying to equate their fears into policy. I can't honestly say that we're closer to the end of the human race today than we were 24 months ago. I'm also pretty sure the Mayan calendar means we're technically much closer to the end of the all life on Earth, and I'd rather trust those guys. I mean, they had much cooler hats [https://www.google.com/search?q=mayan+headdress&hl=en&site=webhp&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=dbENT9KlDOWU0QGhw-GDBg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CDMQ_AUoAQ&biw=1680&bih=935].

Source: Bulletin of Atomic Scientists [http://www.thebulletin.org/content/media-center/announcements/2012/01/10/doomsday-clock-moves-1-minute-closer-to-midnight]

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Radoh

Bans for the Ban God~
Jun 10, 2010
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I believe Dr. Manhattan said it best:
"...I would only agree that a symbolic clock is as nourishing to the intellect as a photograph of oxygen to a drowning man."
Honestly, if electing President Barack Obama was enough to change the time to Doomsday, than it has really no meaning at all.
 

Jandau

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Dec 19, 2008
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One of the things on my list of expenses once I get a stable income going is definitely a wilderness survival class, camping supplies and a decent stock of some foodtype that isn't going to go bad in the next 200 years. I live a small country that nobody gives a fuck about. If shit happens (be it war, disease or whatever) I want to be able to head for the hills, hunker down in the middle of a forest and wait for the whole thing to blow over. Granted, I'm not the only person thinking like that, so my forest might get a bit packed... :p
 

Rex Fallout

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Oct 5, 2010
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The election of Obama didn't fill anyone I know with 'hope' that you speak of. Plus I still hold out hope for humanity that we won't kill ourselves. If ever the time comes that nuclear war is headed our way, I wish only to point out to everyone on Earth that we are failing our ancestors, who thousands of years ago looked up at the stars, and dreamt of being able to sleep with hot alien chicks. Please don't fail our ancestors by destroying all that which we have gained!
 

Radoh

Bans for the Ban God~
Jun 10, 2010
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Proverbial Jon said:
Just a guess but I'd say that clock is about as acurate as this one:

But, that clock is extraordinarily accurate.
What time is it?
Calibration time.
 

Desworks

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Nov 18, 2009
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I find the doomsday clock's design flawed. If midnight represents the end, who's going to be around to move it?
 

justblues

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Jan 11, 2009
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Why do these groups have so much time trying to figure out when the world gonna end, but cant figure out away to "stop the end of the world".
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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Holy Christ, WE'RE DOOMED!

OT: Gimme a break. My favorite bit is that any person or group of people think they know enough to make such statements. It's possibly the grandest joke of all really. A bunch of doomsayers sit there and try to tell us how close, in their opinion, we are to doomsday. All this does is scare people who are incapable of reasoning on their own. This will no doubt turn sensationalist at some point. And furthermore, is there a value to this activity beyond fear mongering?

Also, I love how Obama "gave the world hope". I mean, if all the previous presidents were only human and they all made mistakes, does this make Obama something more or something different than human? I don't think it does. What about him gave the world hope exactly? Rhetoric? They all campaign talking about high hopes. They all lie to get there. And so far, in my life, they all disappoint. Or was it simply that George W Bush was no longer president. I mean, at the time I thought you could put a monkey into the position of president and they would do a better job. Or a dog, or a cat, or asparagus. Lots of options really. That guy sucked, but he wasn't responsible for nearly enough things as he got credit for. But, I guess if people felt that one person could ruin it, then one person could fix it. But, that is just stupid. It took generations to reach where it was, and if it gets fixed, it'll probably take generations to fix it.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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Radoh said:
Proverbial Jon said:
Just a guess but I'd say that clock is about as acurate as this one:

But, that clock is extraordinarily accurate.
What time is it?
Calibration time.
Clearly the Doomsday Clock's "time" is realtive to whoever decides to set it, much like Garrus' clock is relative to him and him only. I mean, it can't be calibration time ALL the time. Can it?

Evidently there's a higher, philosophical context going on here. A social commentary on the state of our world. I just can't seem to find it...
 

AdamG3691

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Nov 18, 2009
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going by chrono trigger's "end of time" logic (where the end of time location is at BOTH ends of time), wouldn't midnight also be the BEGINNING of humanity?

THOSE DAMN SCIENTISTS WANT TO STOP US ALL BEING BORN!
 

Lizardon

Robot in Disguise
Mar 22, 2010
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I have three problems with the Doomsday Clock.

One, this is pure speculation.
Two, they are trying to quantify and represent something that is more complex than their clock model allows.
Three, when a clock reaches midnight, it keeps going.

And are we sure it's 5 minutes to midnight and not 5 minutes to noon?
 

Daverson

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Nov 17, 2009
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5 minutes from midnight? Barely even looks like dawn from where I'm sitting.

It's amazing how those who are supposed to be the most intelligent amongst us can be so open to alarmist ways of thinking.

(Who thought of the clock symbolism, anyway? Doesn't that imply the end of the world by human hands is inevitable? Bit of a defeatist attitude if you ask me. Sure, you could argue eventually the universe has to end, but that's hardly what this clock was designed for, was it?)
 

Benjamin Rosenfeld

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Jan 11, 2012
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It is my understanding that the Doomsday Clock was originally created as just a clock for the cover of an issue of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists due to its aesthetics. Only later was it given that moniker as a means to explain why it was chosen, an explanation that was in fact false.

http://books.google.com/books?id=b3ddWSxmi9cC&lpg=PA194&ots=fIFaCrMtzb&dq=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&f=false

You may have to copy and paste that URL into your browser's address bar. Enjoy!
 

Benjamin Rosenfeld

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Jan 11, 2012
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It is my understanding that the Doomsday Clock was originally created as just a clock for the cover of an issue of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists due to its aesthetics. Only later was it given that moniker as a means to explain why it was chosen, an explanation that was in fact false.

http://books.google.com/books?id=b3ddWSxmi9cC&lpg=PA194&ots=fIFaCrMtzb&dq=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&f=false

You may have to copy and paste that URL into your browser's address bar. Enjoy!
 

Benjamin Rosenfeld

New member
Jan 11, 2012
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It is my understanding that the Doomsday Clock was originally created as just a clock for the cover of an issue of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists due to its aesthetics. Only later was it given that moniker as a means to explain why it was chosen, an explanation that was in fact false.

http://books.google.com/books?id=b3ddWSxmi9cC&lpg=PA194&ots=fIFaCrMtzb&dq=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=Martyl%20Langsdorf%20Doomsday%20Clock&f=false

You may have to copy and paste that URL into your browser's address bar. Enjoy!
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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Daverson said:
5 minutes from midnight? Barely even looks like dawn from where I'm sitting.

It's amazing how those who are supposed to be the most intelligent amongst us can be so open to alarmist ways of thinking.

(Who thought of the clock symbolism, anyway? Doesn't that imply the end of the world by human hands is inevitable? Bit of a defeatist attitude if you ask me. Sure, you could argue eventually the universe has to end, but that's hardly what this clock was designed for, was it?)
well for one i wouldnt call facing the fact that we can destroy ourselves in a matter of 5 minutes alarmistic. All it takes is 5 minutes of madness and our planet is doomed. we must ensue this madness doesnt come.
The end of this planet by human hand is inevitable. the only question is when and will we be able to survive that. At least so far society show no signs of it being avoidable.