The Doomsday Clock: Revisited
Why haven’t the boffins updated the clock? Don’t they take impending nuclear war seriously?
Why haven’t the boffins updated the clock? Don’t they take impending nuclear war seriously?
Regular readers will be aware of my childish fascination for the grossly absurd piece of performance art that is the Doomsday Clock and if you’re new here, there’s a handy link at the bottom of this article that offers my original off beat take on this bizarre glitch in our collective Matrix. With the war raging in Ukraine and the desired “No Fly Zone” seemingly inching further into view hand in hand with the inevitable declaration of world war, why haven’t the ladies and gentlemen of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists adjusted their time frame for a self inflicted and calamitous man made catastrophe?
Has some cheeky scamp taken the batteries out?
Have they all had a eureka moment and said that 75 years of this surrealist pantomime was enough and they couldn’t, with scientific clarity of vision, continue to add yet more fear to the poisoned well of the legacy Media?
Or is it that they simply don’t take nuclear annihilation seriously any more?
The clock, yes kids, for 75 years the earth upon which we all reside has been subjected to a clock named “Doomsday”, is actually not a clock at all if you study the above picture with even half a passing eye. Perhaps that’s the key to unravelling this ridiculous piece of theatre? According to the clock we can only ever reach a safety away from a world ending catastrophe by 15 minutes. But I rather naively thought the man made construction of time lasted 60 minutes in a conventional hour, so where is the other 45 minutes. And where is the remainder of the clock? How are we supposed to take seriously a clock that isn’t an actual clock and that’s ominously titled “Doomsday” when there are 45 precious minutes missing?
Arbitrarily, or scientifically if you prefer, we remain 100 seconds from midnight and the signalling of the four horseman of the apocalypse, the return of the King or an implosion of the earth we’ll never see. In view of Russian aggression, the invasion of Ukraine and that twistedly desired “No Fly Zone” putting us all as close as ever to a possible nuclear war, surely the scientists at the NGO need to urgently update the clock?.
Have they all popped out for some biscuits and forgotten about the clock?
Has it malfunctioned?
Have rogue terrorists taken over its controls? Are they holding it to ransom?
Are they supergluing the other 3/4’s back onto the above segment?
I’m a questions guy, and with a lack of an update within the Media I delved into The Matrix for the latest skinny on the situation and found very little. I did however take a peek at it’s Wikipedia page (yes, a world ending clock has a Wiki page) and the opening preamble alone is a genuine hoot! From 7 minutes to midnight in it’s original iteration in 1947 the clock has gone backward and forward with the flow of the earthly tides we all hope to continue seeing, 24 times and since 2020 has remained at the closest we’ve ever come to a complete wiping out of our human species and 100 seconds to midnight ever since.
Postscript
I watched a mainstream “News” report on Sunday night for the first time in 7 or 8 years. The bulletin was 40 minutes long, was the channel’s premier evening news slot and aside from a couple of minutes on the weather, a report from the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games and the BAFTA’s ceremony, the remaining 32/33 minutes were dominated by the events in Ukraine. If only those cheery ladies and gentlemen of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists had arrived on our telescreens after the weather report with their clock and pronouncements of doom, well, we could have all packed up and gone home to await the hooves of the coming apocalyptic horsemen.
Fear sells and it’s a buyers market for a target market, and a market I certainly didn’t sign up for.
Whilst we have this ridiculous pantomime we cannot, as a species, evolve. If we take this clock seriously, then, well, what’s the point? We’re doomed.
But surely we don’t or can’t take it seriously and thus, what is its point?
End the pantomime and we take a tentative step to evolving.
The Iconic Doomsday Clock Now Says It's 100 Seconds to Midnight, Following Putin's Nuclear Threats
Image via The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Last year, the fates handed the New York Times' Maria Cramer an…www.openculture.com
Doomsday Clock - Wikipedia
The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe. Maintained since 1947…en.wikipedia.org
The Doomsday Clock
and why this utterly surreal piece of performance art never fails to make me smilemedium.com