The Doomsday Clock is Broken

What do we get when a group of atomic scientists create a metaphor for the dangers facing humans beings in the nuclear age? A broken clock. Without any irony, the best they could come up with was a faulty timepiece with a second hand arbitrarily wavering between 11:43 and 11:58pm for the past 70 years.

Despite the name and despite the certainty that every working clock will eventually hit midnight (on this clock, midnight represents doomsday), there has been no doomsday. Instead, these scientists are forced to wrench the second-hand to a point of their choosing every year.

I can understand the Bulletin’s urge to play prophet during times of uncertainty regarding nuclear war. But nowadays, I’m beginning to wonder if the so-called doomsday they are speaking about symbolizes a world-ending catastrophe, or if it better represents the end of a dying, political orthodoxy.

In January of 2017, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the time hands to 11:57:30, which is the closest to midnight it has been since 1953. Back then, the US and Soviet Union were each testing their first thermonuclear weapons. But, as it turns out, mutually assured destruction is quite the deterrent to nuclear war, and the world has never been more peaceful. Nowadays, the second hand hovers near midnight due to climate change, but also, because of the statements of one man, President Donald J Trump, who was in office only a few days when the Bulletin released its 2017 bulletin. (These two time periods do not seem comparable, but it could be that scientists had more brass back then).

The statements of a single person have not historically influenced the board’s decisions. But this isn’t just any person. This is the Four Horseman of the politically correct apocalypse, the anti-christ to those who are forced to watch as he sends their orthodoxy into its own doomsday, President Trump. His catastrophic, world-ending act was to make “disturbing comments about the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons and expressed disbelief in the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change”. I guess it goes without saying that if president Trump had adhered to the tenets of political correctness, and placated these scientists with the typical public relations, doomsday would be averted.

As the board admitted, Trump had only been president for a matter of days, and the effects of his presidency, his policies, had yet to come to fruition. But, as folks routinely suggest, none of that matters these days. Only his words do:

“Just the same, words matter, and President Trump has had plenty to say over the last year.”

He had a lot to say, no doubt, but oddly enough, the Bulletin of Atomic scientists have only mentioned the words and phrases as they have presented by the press: cherry-picked, torn from their context, and served up on a propaganda platter. I’m not sure if they forgot the countless times Trump spoke of peace and world stability both on the campaign and during his presidency, but my guess is they didn’t even bother. So, apparently some words matter, some don’t.

Today, in 2018, the time is now at 11:58:00, two minutes to doomsday. Once again, the bulletin placed undue emphasis on the dangerous effects of Donald Trump’s rhetoric, as they witnessed from their perch “reckless language in the nuclear realm heat up already dangerous situations and re-learned that minimizing evidence-based assessments regarding climate and other global challenges does not lead to better public policies.”

Should we be scared? I'm not so sure. But so long as we do not use reckless language, do not dare minimize scientific authority, we should be alright. Words matter, after all.

At any rate, given that this clock doesn’t purport to represent what it objectively symbolizes—the fears of some egg-heads—we should supersede the Doomsday Clock with the Fear and Loathing Pressure Gauge, which symbolizes the mounting pressure of fear inside a scientist’s skull as he plays prophet from the comfort of his lab. We should also look at it for what it is: as a piece of propaganda, an attempt to strike fear into the undulating masses.

The doomsday clock is neither a symbol of the catastrophic dangers facing mankind, nor is it a clock; it is a record of false prediction and political angst, proving the inability of even the smartest human beings to predict the course of world affairs.

- LesMis

God only knows...

Sure that wasn't what you wanted to hear... wasn't..? was..?

So next year, it will be 11:59?

I wonder what they'll do if he pulls it off and gets re-elected? Will they move it to midnight and declare Apocalypse?

originally posted by: ketsuko
So next year, it will be 11:59?

I wonder what they'll do if he pulls it off and gets re-elected? Will they move it to midnight and declare Apocalypse?

11:59:59, on the brink of total annihilation

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I don't remember who first pointed this out, but the Doomsday Clock is really just a measure of liberal angst. It's certainly not anything scientific, or even quasi-scientific.

The doomsday clock is neither a symbol of the catastrophic dangers facing mankind, nor is it a clock; it is a record of false prediction and political angst, proving the inability of even the smartest human beings to predict the course of world affairs.

Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.

To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task.

Sophocles

Some accurate prediction can be made by looking at the lack of signatures in the treaty below.

www.icanw.org...

Why is the Doomsday Clock any different from Climatologists ?

Political hackery.

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

originally posted by: neo96
Why is the Doomsday Clock any different from Climatologists ?

Political hackery.

Only difference I can find is climatologists haven't given us anything even remotely as valuable as the Doomsday clock has...

There have been a few climate change inspired sings, but they all suck. Iron Maiden... no suckage whatsoever. The clock has served it's purpose and may be dismantled now that Bruce Dickinson has seen that it had some manner of reason to exist.

The Doomsday Clock is Broken

Why is it blinking?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Only difference I can find is climatologists haven't given us anything even remotely as valuable as the Doomsday clock has...

One song two birds.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: neo96
Why is the Doomsday Clock any different from Climatologists ?

Political hackery.

Only difference I can find is climatologists haven't given us anything even remotely as valuable as the Doomsday clock has...

There have been a few climate change inspired sings, but they all suck. Iron Maiden... no suckage whatsoever. The clock has served it's purpose and may be dismantled now that Bruce Dickinson has seen that it had some manner of reason to exist.

I knew somebody had to put some Maiden up! One of my faves!

Rather than a doomsday clock, it should be represented as a pot of boiling water, with the boiling point as doomsday. That might be more accurate, because people become distracted by only focusing on a few issues and completely ignore the pot heating up even as it gets to a killing temperature long before it reaches doomsday.

The Doomsday clock is purely for the unknowing.
Scientists that know nothing of political situations.
Something like me (in Georgia) asking someone in Nigeria to set the time on my watch...

a reply to: Gothmog

Much like the left it used to have some validity but not any more. It became way more political than needed.

originally posted by: putnam6
a reply to: Gothmog

Much like the left it used to have some validity but not any more. It became way more political than needed.

Let me know when DefCon hits 2...
Then I may be concerned

a reply to: Blue Shift

No. We are the frogs in the boiling water who doesn’t (don’t???), know any different.

Two minute egg??!!!

Daylight Savings....we are good....

originally posted by: hillbilly4rent

The Doomsday Clock is Broken

Why is it blinking?

When Obama left the white house he pilfered Everything... lightbulbs, fixtures, towels, even took the batteries from the Atomic Clock... *smh* its a shame I tell you.