[Witchfinder General]

The Doomsday clock has ticked another minute closer to midnight on the back of global uncertainty on how to deal with the threats of nuclear weapons and climate change. "It is now five minutes to midnight," said Allison Macfarlane, chair of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), which created the clock in 1947 as a barometer of how close the world is to an apocalyptic end. The last decision by the group, which includes a host of Nobel Prize-winning scientists, moved the clock a minute further away from midnight in 2010 on hopes of global nuclear cooperation and the election of US president Barack Obama. However, the latest decision pushes the clock back to the time it was at in 2007. Increasing nuclear tensions, refusal to engage in global action on climate change, and a growing tendency to reject science when it comes to major world concerns were cited as key reasons for the latest tick on the clock. "It is clear the change that appeared to be happening at the time is not happening, not materialising," co-chair Lawrence Krauss said. "Faced today with the clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and the continued challenge to find new and sustainable and safe sources of energy, business as usual reigns the norm among world leaders." The clock reached its most perilous point in 1953, at two minutes to midnight, after the United States and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another. It was a far-flung 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the two signed the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and announced further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. Robert Socolow, a member of the BAS science and security board and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, said a common theme emerged in the scientists' talks this year. He cited a "worrisome trend, notably in the US but in many other countries, to reject or diminish the significance of what science says is the characteristic of a problem". But the group said it was heartened by a series of world protest movements - including the Arab spring, the global Occupy demonstrations and protests in Russia - which show people are seeking a greater say in their future. With plenty of uncertainty in the nuclear realm, even a renewed START deal between Russia and the US has not achieved the progress scientists would like, BAS board member Jayantha Dhanapala said. "At a time when there are going to be elections in the US, in Russia, in France, and a change of leadership in China, there is some uncertainty therefore about the nuclear weapons programs of these countries and the policies the new leadership will follow," said Dr Dhanapala, a former UN under-secretary general for disarmament affairs. "The world still has approximately over 20,000 deployed nuclear weapons with enough power to destroy the world's inhabitants several times over."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-1...closer/3767426

[Mr. Sandman]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

[AceBandage]

He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

[Sinatar]

Wait this is a real thing? Like not a Watchmen made up thing?

lol

[Jtwo]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

WAAAAAAAT, I literally just typed this exact post but with the Justice track instead.

[Nobility]

I always wondered, if something significant happens that would push towards peace, would they just stop the clock or do they have some time of daylight savings ability to push it back an hour?

[echoshifting]

This thing always freaks me out. I'd prefer to believe it doesn't exist.

I always wondered, if something significant happens that would push towards peace, would they just stop the clock or do they have some time of daylight savings ability to push it back an hour?

The clock has ticked further away from midnight many times

[jadedm17]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

Came to read yet another horrific story about the world around me and how much humanity has destroyed it, left happily listening to Maiden.

Thank you.

[BobsRevenge]

He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

*looks at tag*

:(

[Phenomic]

Where is this clock located. Is it on display somewhere? How does one person determine the nuclear time to death? I have so many random questions and so much confusion on this thing.

[Lionel Mandrake]

He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

[echoshifting]

Where is this clock located. Is it on display somewhere? How does one person determine the nuclear time to death? I have so many random questions and so much confusion on this thing.

Just check the wiki for Doomsday Clock, all of your questions are answered in the intro

[Keyser Soze]

I forgot a Doomsday Clock existed - until Mike Rowe mentioned in on Dirty Jobs last week



Come back 1991!!

[wenis]

This thing always freaks me out. I'd prefer to believe it doesn't exist. The clock has ticked further away from midnight many times

but it does! IT DOES!

[Alucrid]

I was born in 1991.

Then it was all down hill.

Does that...mean something?

[echoshifting]

1991 :(

[Salmonax]

I'm what you might call a water man, Jack!

[NoRéN]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

Wake me up when we're living after midnight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsSVNhyiKk

[NullPointer]

I would only agree that a symbolic clock is as nourishing to the intellect as photograph of oxygen to a drowning man.

[Meadows]

I'm sorry, but that's bullshit, no way we're closer to apocalypse than we were in 1974

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I forgot a Doomsday Clock existed - until Mike Rowe mentioned in on Dirty Jobs last week Come back 1991!!

Not too many walls left to tear down. And I don't think tearing down the Great Wall of China would help at all.

[AceBandage]

I would only agree that a symbolic clock is as nourishing to the intellect as photograph of oxygen to a drowning man.

Too easy...

Ah, what the hell.

[NervousXtian]

Clock lost all meaning when they added the whole climate-change stuff in 2007. Just not the same.

[CrazyDude]

So we are closer to doomsday now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

[The Technomancer]

He cited a "worrisome trend, notably in the US but in many other countries, to reject or diminish the significance of what science says is the characteristic of a problem".

I want more Engineers in government and more Scientists in advisory positions

[speculawyer]

I used to read the BAS in the 80's. Interesting magazine and it was scarier back then.

[PSFan]

This needs to play in every city on December 21:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knLCbS02T1Y

[maquiladora]

So we are closer to doomsday now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

If they reviewed it more often than just once a year then the cuban missile crisis I'm sure would have cranked it up to 1 minute to midnight.

[Complex Shadow]

shiiiiiiit

i have no clue about American politics.

[BertramCooper]

I've always found the use of a clock for a doomsday scenario to be a pretty dumb metaphor - especially when the hands are frequently moved backward.

[iNvid02]

I forgot a Doomsday Clock existed - until Mike Rowe mentioned in on Dirty Jobs last week Come back 1991!!

me being born must have had some effect :D

[teruterubozu]

THis shit is stupid. Makes the Mayan 2012ers look ingenious.

[maquiladora]

THis shit is stupid. Makes the Mayan 2012ers look ingenious.

[speculawyer]

THis shit is stupid. Makes the Mayan 2012ers look ingenious.

Why? It is merely meant as a metaphor as to mankind's chances of significantly harming itself.

I think it is extremely interesting. There is no one that can save us from ourselves except ourselves. And it is nice that people try to look at the problems facing mankind so they can be openly discussed.

[Volimar]

Why? It is merely meant as a metaphor as to mankind's chances of significantly harming itself. I think it is extremely interesting. There is no one that can save us from ourselves except ourselves. And it is nice that people try to look at the problems facing mankind so they can be openly discussed.

And brilliant to have the forethought to make it something that anyone can understand.

[NEOPARADIGM]

sorry misread

[wenis]

1991 :(

hey, if it happens it happens... just run straight into the mushroom cloud and you won't feel a thing.

[Bloodbeard]

Does this really mean anything?

[Kai Dracon]

Does this really mean anything?

No, it really doesn't. The line from Watchmen dismissing its usefulness is spot-on.

[VALIS]

Read all issues from the 1940s through the '90s of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists online: http://books.google.com/books?id=9gsAAAAAMBAJ

[icarus-daedelus]

Not too many walls left to tear down. And I don't think tearing down the Great Wall of China would help at all.

Invading China from the northeast used to work for the Manchus!

[greyshark]

I'm surprised to see the clock is still around - I thought it was made irrelevant at the end of the Cold War.

[bean breath]

Wake me up when we're living after midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsSVNhyiKk

Before you go to sleep, make sure you have your one-way ticket to midnight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQE1Q...eature=related

[SneakyStephan]

I want more Engineers in government and more Scientists in advisory positions

There probably are, but the kind of guys you see on discovery channel.

ALIENS guy and that idiot who whores himself as professor for lame technology future stuff interviews and whoever is the new guy who sticks his finger up the asses of animals.

[Krispy]

Do they really need to start this shit back up in 2012? The doomsday douchebags are already annoying enough. Stop provoking them!

[Moppet13]

This in my opinion is the lamest thing to have come out of the cold war.

[Orayn]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

First post wins courtesy of IRON FUCKING MAIDEN! \m/,

[Karl2177]

Wake me when it is two minutes to midnight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hutUnGwHFlQ

I'm more of a One Minute to Midnight kind of guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7XTqHbsrdY

[homerule]

.

[timetokill]

Damn, so these guys were bamboozled by the hope/change stuff too?

If so, why are we trusting them to tell us how close we are to annihilation?