Doomsday Clock

I'd almost forgotten about this gem!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35412454


The so-called Doomsday Clock will remain set at three-minutes-to-midnight amid global perils such as climate change and nuclear proliferation.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BPA), the group behind the clock, said the standing still is "not good news".

The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock is a metaphor for how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe.

"It remains the closest it has been over the past 20 years," said Rachel Bronson, BPA's executive director.

In addition to nuclear arms and climate change, the group also cited growing cyber threats and an uptick in terrorist attacks in their decision to keep clock unchanged.

Lawrence Krauss, chairman of the BPA's Board of Sponsors said that the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate accord were good news, but said it remained unclear if the Paris agreement would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He also noted increased tensions between the US and Russia as a sore point.

Last year, the scientists moved the clock up from five-minutes-to-midnight, noting the threat of climate change, the modernisation of nuclear weapons as well as large nuclear arsenals.

At the time, they said the threats were "extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity".

There are still some real doomers out there.

Would you consider yourself a doomer or not so much.

I think that the future will be quite good for another decade or so then downhill from there.


(poll to follow)
failled to load so we're poll-less!

It should have read
What do you believe in ?
1 Doom! Doom! Doom!
2 Boom! Boom! Boom!
3 Boom! Doom! Boom!
4 Doom! Boom! Doom!
5 Boom! Bang! Lights out!
6 Whatever!

Temptamperu

were all going to heaven lads!!!

Tin Foil Hat

What an absolutely pointless piece of absolute bullsh1t that yoke is!

Fr_Dougal

Gloom!!

Temptamperu wrote: »

were all going to heaven lads!!!

You're not on the list...

The Backwards Man

I posted reply to this twice and it got lost on the interwebs so I'm not posting it again!

Suffice to say, the outlook is good, despite what manys a boxroom keyboard warrior or doomsday prepper would have you believe. Religious fundamentalism will wane (we still haven't had the death throes from the Christians or the Hindus yet), the need for nuclear arsenals will cease to exist, the biggest problem facing humanity will be expansion beyond this planet, the solar system, and the galaxy.

It will be a rocky road for a few decades and centuries, but we'll get there*.

*Not the literal 'we', we'll all be long dead.

crosstownk

Every broken clock is right twice a day.

KERSPLAT!

Poll added

mad muffin

Reminds me of the watchmen.

KERSPLAT!

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Poll added

I don't know what we're voting for but you got my vote inanyways.

Archeron

Doo doo de doo doo doo, doo doo de doo doo doo, buddup, buddup, bubbedebup BOOOO...

KERSPLAT!

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know what we're voting for but you got my vote inanyways.

AH mod you'd most like to have sexytime with...

I'd vote me too :P

KERSPLAT!

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

AH mod you'd most like to have sexytime with...

I'd vote me too :P

It's no wonder you wanted me gone. So you could be on top.

Stoned Since 2011

Deleted User wrote: »

It's no wonder you wanted me gone. So you could be on top.

Lie back and take it.

KERSPLAT!

You can go on top if you want?

Too far? :P

Boskowski

Boom!!

Well even Stephen Hawking says we're quite bit on the edge doesn't he?
I tend to agree with him, we as a species don't seem to do 'balance' and we don't seem to care much about anything else but ourselves either. Pointless to speculate about the actual details but I could see it getting fairly ugly for us and most of the other species here over the next 100 or 150 years or so.
Shame really. Could have been so good.

diomed

Three minutes to midnight? What about the 1,000 places I have to see before I die.

fleet_admiral

Maybe its stuck on three minutes to midnight because someone forgot to change the batteries?

Duckworth_Luas

It got through 20:12 all right

Whatever!!

Thanks to whoever put up the pole!

Edit: thanks Kersplatt!

That doomsday clock always cracked me up as it used to assume that someone would be mad enough to press the button!
Now they're adding climate change into the mix :rolleyes:

The_Valeyard

Kersplat!!

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Poll added

I demand an option to vote for Kodos.

Ruu

http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/millennium.html

The Y2K all over again. :eek:

biko

Meh, we're actually more like 17 minutes to eleven post meridiem.

FanadMan

Kersplat!!

I speet on your three minutes to midnight and add......

StudentDad

Doesn't really matter does it? If the nuclear powers play 'swap the nukes' we'll be dead so fast it won't matter.

SD

Junkyard Tom

I watched a thing on the thing that said that the whole 'OMG you're going to die violently' thing isn't a thing as much as it used to be a thing.