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Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 10:41 am Posts: 8776 Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Closest its ever been to midnight.
'Doomsday clock' ticks closer to apocalyptic midnight
By Laura Koran
Updated 11:44 AM ET, Thu January 25, 2018
A panel of scientists and scholars said Thursday they believe the world is as close as it has ever been to a so-called doomsday scenario.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which has been tracking the threat posed by nuclear weapons and other technologies since the 1940s, moved the second hand forward on their Doomsday Clock forward closer to its symbolic apocalyptic midnight.
"It is with considerable concern that we set the time of the 2018 doomsday clock and offer a plea to rewind the doomsday clock," said Bulletin of Atomic Scientists President and CEO Rachel Bronson. "As of today, it is two minutes to midnight."
According to the group's report, the greatest threats to global security came from the nuclear realm. "North Korea's nuclear weapons program made remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks to North Korea itself, other countries in the region, and the United States," the report notes. "Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions by both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation."
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, members of the panel discussed some of the specific threats that led them to revise the clock's setting. In particular, several panelists bemoaned what they see as a reluctance by policymakers to embrace scientific data.
"Divorcing public policy from empirical reality endangers us all," said theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, adding, "what we need is evidence-based policy making, not policy-based evidence making."
The administration of US President Donald Trump was repeatedly singled out by the group over policies they view as harmful. These include the decision last year to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, and the administration's disparagement of the Iran nuclear deal.
The last time the clock was so close to midnight was in 1953, when the US and the Soviet Union were engaged in a nuclear arms race.
In 2017, the board moved the clock from three minutes to midnight, to two and a half minutes to midnight. The furthest the clock has been from midnight is 17 minutes in 1991.
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Joined: Thu January 25, 2018 3:10 am Posts: 190 Location: East Coast
Green Habit wrote:
This is one of the stupidest things out there.
Completely agree. Everything is fear mongering. Turning the clock closer or farther away from a hypothetical doomsday helps no one. And blaming it on the US and its President over Iran's bullshit is fucking ridiculous.
Joined: Sun September 15, 2013 5:50 am Posts: 22666
nuclear war worries people more than it should
kim jong un is an asshole but he is not irrational
he knows if he launches its an act of suicide
he’s not that crazy
plus he just joined the olympics. they should be moving the minute hand back to 4
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Joined: Sun September 15, 2013 5:50 am Posts: 22666
verb_to_trust wrote:
What if Kim is suicidal? Being suicidal is sort of common.
guys like that don't get suicidal
they kill other people to keep in power
they would transplant their head on a child's body every 80 years if it would give them eternal life
they are consumed by the high of absolute power
they will do anything they can not to die
_________________ All posts by this account, even those referencing real things, are entirely fictional and are for entertainment purposes only; i.e. very low-quality entertainment. These may contain coarse language and due to their content should not be viewed by anyone
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