Doomsday Clock To Advance

Dik Zak writes "Many news sites are reporting that the magazine Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists intends to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock on Wednesday 17 January. The clock was started at seven minutes to midnight during the Cold War and has been moved forward or back at intervals, depending on the state of the world and the prospects for nuclear war. Midnight represents destruction by nuclear war. It is not revealed in which direction the hands of the clock will be moved, but it should be safe to assume that they will move closer to midnight: the magazine cites 'worsening nuclear [and] climate threats.' The clock stood at two minutes to midnight when both the United States and the Soviet Union tested nuclear weapons in 1953. The farthest away from midnight it ever got was 17 minutes, in 1991 when both superpowers signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It currently stands at seven minutes to midnight."

Comments

Misunderstanding.

[NeutronCowboy]

Human interactions, goals and thought patterns are not measured by equations or instruments. Yes, this makes it hard to say what's going to happen when feeble bags of mostly water are involved. Doesn't mean though that you can't or shouldn't try, or that some people aren't very, very good at it. If you're upset that the clock reads 7 minutes instead of 8 or 6, you're missing the point.

Iron Maiden

[cbrese]

I just remembered Iron Maiden's song "2 Minutes to Midnight". There is a good wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Minutes_to_Midnight article about it that references the doomsday clock.