The ATS Apocalypse Watch

if your diet consist of cheese, bts might be the place for you. this idea is meant to be discussed not mocked.

Continuing to make underhanded swipes at me is not a way to keep your thread on track.

I have no problem taking things seriously but I'm certainly not going to curb my posting habits because you feel I haven't given this topic the serious consideration that it deserves.

I addressed your original post and you decided to ignore and just harp on my last sentence.

Move on, stop taking swipes and your threads will pretty much stay on track.

Had you not taken a swipe at me I would not have felt compelled to respond and further derail your thread.

So allow me to put this back on topic for you; again I say, there are far too many variables for any sort of prediction.

Also as I stated before we have a lot of members on this board some of which do not have both feet in the wading pool of reality. All it takes is one member taking the apocolypse clock too seriously and offing themselves and that could lead to a very bad situation.

You may think that's silly but it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility when you combine the two very powerful concepts of fear and prediction.

Now you can continue to take your little shots at me or you can let it go.

Spiderj

Working off what Apocalypticon said, this clock or meter would need a defined start point. Rather than trying to digest all of recorded history, I would suggest that it be started January 1 of 2007. If the memmbers really feel a need to re-wind and get in to past events, then I would sugest January 1 of 2000.

It would take time to work out, but we could look at establishing a time scale for certain events which fall in to the range of what are deemed accepted for submission. I'm just going to throw out some arbitrary numbers for the sake of discussion.

A nuclear bomb test......+60 seconds
Imprisonment of a known political figure for war cries...-30 seconds
Removal from office of a known political figure...5 seconds

Again, I say that this might be best used as a world war clock, or some such verion of that. Predicting the end of the world is so imprecise. With a growing catalog of even types and recommended time clock adjustments, it may be possible do this with less subjectivity. For the trely ambitious specific war clocks for specific countries.

Is It Doomsday Already?

Originally posted by elitegamer23
if your diet consist of cheese, bts might be the place for you. this idea is meant to be discussed not mocked.

Originally posted by Spiderj
Now you can continue to take your little shots at me or you can let it go.

Whoa! At this rate, we won't need a clock.

This reminds me of a Saturday Night Live skit featuring John Malkovich.

Maybe we need a Mock Clock to determine the level of mockery in this thread.

As for the concerns about people taking this too seriously, I think ATSers are capable of making up their own minds what to believe or not believe.

It's been working pretty well so far.

The biggest problem I see with this idea is getting ATSers to agree on how to do it.

If this thread is any indication, my concerns are well-founded.

Relax! It's Only ATS.®

Originally posted by Justin OldhamAgain, I say that this might be best used as a world war clock, or some such verion of that. Predicting the end of the world is so imprecise.

Gotta' agree with this..timeframes for the apocalypse to occur have been posited at least 60 times since 1960 alone; just try and count the number since people began recording such thoughts/speculations.

if you are interested in how one group has tried to accomplish the same thing using the most broadly accepted criteria of general "Pre-Dispensationalist" eschatology, then take a look at the following link to a "Rapture Index" on a site called "Rapture Ready". Here the author has tried to do something of the same thing with various (specific to pre-dispensationalism) apocalyptic "indicators" being assigned numerical values:

www.raptureready.com...

I once toyed with the idea of assigning numerical values to socio-political events as a tool for trying to predict the outbreak of regional conflicts, but when I really sat down and began to think about it the things "we don't know we know we don't know" (or some other Rumsfeldism) begin to become more apparent. And quite often, in historical causation, it turns out to be the crucial thing.

For instance: Martin Luther was studying for a career in Law when he was knocked to the ground by lightening while out for a stroll. He was so freaked that he made a vow to Saint Anne that he would enter a monastary if she got him out of the situation alive. True to his word he entered an Augustinian monastary, which was absolutely un-noteworthy at the time to anyone but his dad, who was disappointed that he was giving up a career in Law for monastic life.

Yet look at the impact that decision had on Medieval Christianity...

Or, you could argue that the real point of eschatological "significance" came when he nailed those 95 theses to the church door...but this also assumed it's significance only in hindsight...his act was a common one for those wishing to announce issues of debate.

Yet, look at the eventual impact that act had...

I'm not trying to throw cold water on the idea but, as both Spiderj and Justin Oldham have pointed out, the elements of History are immensely complex and, as any History professor will tell you, the truly crucial elements can be difficult to ferret out since, in many cases, our knowledge is incomplete. This is absolute in terms of the future.

What appears significant in the present moment may turn out to be much less relevant from a distance of time.

Just my $.02



[edit on 45o09e303609e 36 by apocalypticon]

Originally posted by Majic
Is It Doomsday Already?

Originally posted by elitegamer23
if your diet consist of cheese, bts might be the place for you. this idea is meant to be discussed not mocked.

Originally posted by Spiderj
Now you can continue to take your little shots at me or you can let it go.

Whoa! At this rate, we won't need a clock.

I couldn't agree with you more Majic. Look at how Justin framed his comment: "Predicting the end of the world is so imprecise". Great insight, and funny to boot. Ya' gotta' have a sense of humor about things to survive in this world...

Yeah, well. That's me. Mr. Giggles.

Just to show you how hard this can be, I just got done working out the details for my next radio interivew. The host would like me to tell him in very short order how I was ble to make such accureate predictions. He'd also like me to es-plain the background behind my thinking. Ha. I can't jus tell him, "I guessed." Nor can I simply say, "I went a middle-of-the road-approach."

Even with a collection of gret minds ,and a published listing of rating criterion, this wouldn't be easy. Some amount of skill at prediciton wouldh ave to go in to it. I THINK we could cut things down a bit my requiring just as much documentation as they now require for an ATS news article.

As an author of niminally successful political fiction, even I am surprised by the amount of research tha can be distilled in to just one sentence. I'm sitting next to a box of old research that resulted in just one chapter. Any event that is submitted to any review group should be documented reasonably wel, but we should be aware that we are not Harvard, and this is not a PhD review.

For comedy value, I sahll now tap-dance away.

Originally posted by Spiderj





Also as I stated before we have a lot of members on this board some of which do not have both feet in the wading pool of reality. All it takes is one member taking the apocolypse clock too seriously and offing themselves and that could lead to a very bad situation.


Spiderj

it could have a disclaimer telling those people its just for fun. if they still didnt listen and did something stupid, ill give them a vote for the darwin award.

the two sides of the scale could be world peace , and world war. just an idea.

maybe it could be something like a temperature gauge instead of a clock/watch.

that could make it easier to control, i d k im just assuming that. considering its been thought of before , and it went no where , i dont see this idea going anywhere.

thanks anyways for your time and replys people. spiderj, your a cool guy no hard feelings.

Not a problem never any hard feelings.

Spiderj

A temperature gage would be interesting. A peace-war meter might go over well enough. I keep wondering about oversight. What's to be done to crack that nut?