Doomsday Clock - earlier or later than you think?

[WillsBabe]

On Friday (tomorrow) the hands of the Doomsday Clock are to be changed. You can watch the change by a live web feed. The public hasn't been told if the hands are to be moved closer to, or further from, midnight (Doomsday). What are your thoughts? Is it earlier or later than we think as we tick down to the end of the world?

More information here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-to-be-moved-for-first-time-in-two-years.html

 

[John Picard]

Already been set back 1 minute.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...doomsdaydeferredendofworldclocksetback1minute

 

[T J]

The clock better go back! 1st black president, no republicans in DC, what more do they want!?

 

[Michael Chris]

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Doomsday Clock has been hovering just before Midnight for over sixty years. I think it needs new batteries or something.

 

[Scout101]

what a joke! Why is it closer to midnight right now than during situations where people had fingers on red buttons?

Honestly, why is the clock still even a thing? It was a cute gimmick in the 50s and 60s, but long past meaningful or a scare tactic...

 

[Data Holmes]

I think they are going to put it closer to midnight.

 

[Data Holmes]

what a joke! Why is it closer to midnight right now than during situations where people had fingers on red buttons?

Because both side were held off of the buttons because both sides had buttons.

 

[Scout101]

So who's closer to pushing a button right now? Or much of anything else, actually? If we're a few minutes short of Doomsday, shouldn't there be some sort of escalating situation? Personally, I'd say it's closer to about 7:30 than midnight at the moment...

 

[Finn]

^I agree. I just googled around and noticed it was never earlier than 11:43 pm, which I just find to be asburd. What would the world be like if we were at 12:01 am? around noon? Around 6:00 pm.

 

[Data Holmes]

So who's closer to pushing a button right now? Or much of anything else, actually? If we're a few minutes short of Doomsday, shouldn't there be some sort of escalating situation? Personally, I'd say it's closer to about 7:30 than midnight at the moment...

I'd say the threat today is economic and environmental.

 

[WillsBabe]

what a joke! Why is it closer to midnight right now than during situations where people had fingers on red buttons?

It's earlier now that the 50's, according to the article, when it was two minutes to midnight during the US/USSR nuclear escalation.

 

[Shikarnov]

The clock better go back! 1st black president, no republicans in DC, what more do they want!?

Wouldn't it be a hoot if it went back, like, 5 minutes merely because the Republicans have been marginalized (to a degree)? lol. I'd love to see how Fox News would spin that story.

 

[Jadzia]

I've never heard of it before. It looks like propaganda stuff to me.

 

[Scout101]

what a joke! Why is it closer to midnight right now than during situations where people had fingers on red buttons?

It's earlier now that the 50's, according to the article, when it was two minutes to midnight during the US/USSR nuclear escalation.

While true, it's not to any meaningful degree. It's a analog clock, so realistically it can't be 2:30 in the morning, and you can only show a 12 hour window, or 720 minutes. Out of those 720 minutes, we've never been farther from midnight than about minute 715 out of 720. Absurd and alarmist to the point of uselessness. Like I said, it was briefly important as a "reality check" for how close to fucked we were in the 50s/60s, but not only is it no longer relevent, the clock doesn't even seem accurate, if it's reporting we're almost as close to Doomsday as we were back then. Arguing that you can justify it by economics is nuts. It's not a clock measuring our standard of living, it's counting down to the end of life on Earth.

I've never heard of it before. It looks like propaganda stuff to me.

Yep, that's it. Important when it came out (as a concept) 50-60 years ago, but now just kept going out of tradition and because it's harmless. And occasionally they try and make a big deal about adjusting the clock, more as a reminder that it exists, and a "hey, look at me!" sorta thing.

 

[Jadzia]

I've never heard of it before. It looks like propaganda stuff to me.

Yep, that's it. Important when it came out (as a concept) 50-60 years ago, but now just kept going out of tradition and because it's harmless. And occasionally they try and make a big deal about adjusting the clock, more as a reminder that it exists, and a "hey, look at me!" sorta thing.

Even though it may be outdated, it can still be used as a propaganda tool. Moving the clock back does what? Makes people believe they are a little bit safer now? Makes people believe that ongoing current affairs are succeeding to make the world a safer place?

Whether that is true or not, moving the clock does have the effect of influencing the moods and judgements of society at large, which is exactly what propaganda is.

 

[Scout101]

maybe it DID, in the 50s. I don't think that's really true anymore. It's an idea that's past its shelf life, IMO. And if it's always between 11:55 and Midnight, is it even worth mentioning? Can't we just assume that since the advent of Nuclear tech and biological weapons, that we're 2 seconds and a mistake away from ending it all? Tweaking a fake clock ahead or back 1 minute really doesn't impact anything, or even make good propaganda anymore.

Hell, it's just a precursor of the Terror Threat Indicator colorwheel. Just as much a propaganda tool, just as useless, (just newer). It (in theory) goes from Green, to Blue, Yellow, Orange, and Red. As far as I know, it's never been below Yellow, and defaults back to that. Goes orange if there's chatter, and red if an attack is about to go down, but pretty much always Yellow, so why bother with the rest?

At least the terror threat level thing is talked about on occasion. Before this thread (and the Watchmen movie) when was the last time you heard about the Doomsday Clock? Hell, aside from this thread, i wouldn't have known it still existed!

 

[Colonel Midnight]

^ True, but still... It's interesting, I have to admit.

There's a really good documentary on History or Discovery Channel about The Doomsday Clock that's shown fairly often... I think it's an episode of Modern Marvels. Covers the history and how the Board decides (basically) on trends, overall current events, etc.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Mike Farley]

They should set it to 5 after just to mess with people.