Doomsday Clock

[Meatplow]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=sciencenews&storyid=2007-01-12T202126Z_01_N12164371_RTRUKOC_0_US-DOOMSDAY-CLOCK.xml

I never knew such a thing existed. What are your opinions?

[Krabsworth]

So what is this Atomic Scientists being political experts?

[Kaleid]

Apparently it's been moved forward to 5 minutes to.
Where's Cher when you need her?

[Electronic Wolf]

I cannot believe this exists.

[thedeadwalk!]

At worst it could create some self-fulfilling prediction. At best it's just stupid.

[Electronic Wolf]

Seriously. There is no need for a Doomsday Clock.

[Kaleid]

Yeah. Bit of a gimmick to get us all to recycle more. And not blow people up

[symmetrix]

itll be ok guys dont worry

[John Paul Harrison]

It's not really a big deal, seeing how it's really just a graphic depiction of one newsletter's opinion, and not an "official" assessment.

History Channel had a little spot on the Doomsday Clock.

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

Seriously. There is no need for a Doomsday Clock.

It's merely a visual representation of the opinion on the group. The only reason anyone's even heard of it is because people respect what they have to say.

[PerpetualBurn]

It's arbitrary, yes. It usually reflects global conflicts reasonably well, yes.

There's really not much discussion to be had on the matter. If you know anything about global politics you have no need for it, if you do then you know it's a reasonable representation.

[Knifeboy]

I can't believe that some of you guys haven't heard of this before.
This thing has been around for 60 years and is quite important actually

[PerpetualBurn]

It's not important at all.

[Knifeboy]

I think the fact that we're closer to nuclear destruction is quite important

[PerpetualBurn]

And you realise that the doomsday clock has nothing to do with politics getting better or worse?

[ashman]

Does it do a count down when the Missiles are launched?

[Electronic Wolf]

I think the fact that we're closer to nuclear destruction is quite important

What does this have to do with the clock?

[ashman]

What does this have to do with the clock?

I'd guess that the Clock represents a more tangible way of people understanding how close we are.

[Electronic Wolf]

But there's no real way to measure how close we are to nuclear destruction. It's the opinion of a few people or whatever, making the clock pretty lame. It doesn't look so cool either. Like if I had money I would make a bomb-*** looking clock man which technographix and the business.

[Scuba_Steve]

it was closer to "doomsday" during the cold war.



just some stupid icon for people to get worked up over

[ashman]

But there's no real way to measure how close we are to nuclear destruction. It's the opinion of a few people or whatever, making the clock pretty lame. It doesn't look so cool either. Like if I had money I would make a bomb-*** looking clock man which technographix and the business.

People read tabloids and those are mostly in the opinion of the writer.

Yeah, you're right, there's no way to measure how close we are, until you hear the 4 minute warning. It's just the opinion of a few scientists, leave it at that, if you don't like it, you don't have to follow its exact movement and forget about it.

It was made in 1947...

[santi3hg]

The closest it ever got to being "doomsday" on the clock was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I believe it was 2-3 minutes away from the hour on the clock.

Other than that its a group of scientists that try to asses current global conditions and then translate it to a clock.

[Against Miik!]

I love how scientific it is. I mean, the accuracy must be amazing. Clearly, we all have a lot to fear.

[Sroji]

It's pointless being sarcastic about it, what better way for them to express what they see as worsening geopolitical conditions than to use something that measures the progression of everything? A watch. Who cares if it seems uncool or the watch looks lame it only serves to amplify their concerns and thankfully alert people to increasing tension.

[MattyBlade]

I like the doomsday clock, it produces good musical inspiration for bands like Iron Maiden :D

[Electronic Wolf]

They could use colors!

[Surgicalgod]

This is a very stupid idea, imo.

[Petros]

Yeah, those scientists are so stupid. All their stupid theories. What a bunch of crap.

[Josh]

yeh, but iron maiden wrote a song about it :p
(2 Minutes to Midnight).

the world's basically screwed now anyway; this winter in england has had warmer night-time temperatures than July last year, which was the hottest month of the year. normally it's -3C or lower at night at this time of year, and 1 or 2C during the day, not 10 during the day.