Doomsday clock at 5 minutes to midnight
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic barometer of how the world will be in imminent danger of catastrophic end, based on unmitigated or unsolved international events that pose a great threat to humanity. It has been there since 1947 and maintained by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago.
It has been recently announced by the board that the official setting of the clock stands at five minutes to midnight (11:55pm), adjusted on January 10, 2012, from the six minutes that it has stayed since January 2010.
Depending on the gravity of world issues affecting mankind, the hand of the clock could either be set backward or forward. Note that the clock’s hands have been adjusted twenty times since its inception in 1947, when the clock was initially set to seven minutes to midnight (11:53pm).
The reason why it was moved a minute closer to judgment day this time, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), is because of the world’s inadequate progress in halting the proliferation of nuclear arms, the questionable safety of nuclear power plants (like what happened in Japan), the terrorist threats to use “dirty bombs” with stolen atomic material, and to the extent that it is affecting the environment – the climate change.
“The world still has approximately 19,500 nuclear weapons, enough power to destroy the Earth’s inhabitants several times over,” the board wrote in a joint statement.
Jayantha Dhanapala, a member of the BAS Board of Sponsors and a former UN undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs, opined that while Russia-US nuclear relations were improving, others left much to be desired.
He talked about the failure by the US, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Israel to act on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and by North Korea on a treaty to cut off production of nuclear weapons material, which he says, “continues to leave the world at risk from continued development of nuclear weapons.”
The potential for nuclear weapons use in regional conflicts in the Middle East, Northeast Asia and particularly in South Asia was also alarming, BAS said.
Another contentious issue that is causing havoc at man’s surroundings is climate change blamed on global warming. BAS is calling for the adoption of climate change agreements to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and work hard searching for renewable energy sources so we won’t be confronted anymore with carbon dioxide emission problems.
On January 11,I reached the ripe age of 59.I smoke cigarettes,I am a bit on the heavy side.Fortunately I drink very little alcohol these days.I have set my personal Doomsday Clock to 1 minute before 12…..so I’ll be beating the rush.I’ll greet you all when you get to Heaven….or the other place.
Should have written about this a day earlier and I would have greeted you on time instead of wishing you the best on Friday, the 13th. How I wish I was 59 again, so you can be sure that am somewhere there first waiting for you. I smoke cigarettes, cigars, and occasionally pipe tobacco. Also have my daily dose of San Miguel pilsen before dinner. You are still very young, so enjoy. Cheers!
LOL…..I thought that I was the old man on your blog.Yes….I smoke a pipe also…..just like I’m doing now,and when I made the previous comment,and so on.Occasionally I’ll break up a cigar and smoke that in the pipe.I will drink on occasion,but end up falling asleep after just one….so I’ll usually drink something just to savor the taste…then it’s off to dreamland.I enjoy a good Margarita or some of the many flavors of beer that are available these days.Blueberry beer is my favorite,or I’ll go to the far extreme and have a strong Irish beer.San Miguel use to be for sale everywhere,but these days it’s hard to come by.It wasn’t available at all when the U.S.bases were tossed out of the the Philippines….possibly some politics were involved.As far as the Doomsday Clock goes….it looks like Iran is teaming up with Venezuela to intimidate the U.S.I guess that’s fine and dandy as long as the don’t nuke the tobacco fields and the breweries.
Birds of the same feather then, huh! Fortunately we have now selling here variety of pipe tobacco sold in pouches like the Borkum Riff type. I still have to see though a good pipe sold here. Got mine from my father when he was still alive. Ordered one from my brother who is coming next month from Jacksonville, Florida. Sounds like exotic beer you are drinking! I like blueberries and blackberries so I would probably like it too. Your Irish beer is probably alike to San Mig’s Cerveza Negra. I have it once in a while. They say it is good for nursing mothers.. Oh, well… As to Iran, like they say in Spanish, “van acabar mal.” You know the kind of person their president is from the type of friends he is associating with these days – Chavez and Castro. Yeah, you’re right save the tobacco fields and breweries, but you know what, we are paying more now fuel here in reaction over the threat of the Hormuz strait closure. Hope the SOBs get sucked out by the aliens!
It is insane that we have nuclear weapons considering the danger they pose to all humanity and the environment. The U.S. needs to call for completely supporting the NPT Article VI and lead the way to Zero nuclear weapons.
Frankly, I don’t know how could this be possible in our tumultuous world. Once the U.S. gives up its nuclear weapons, a number of rebellious nations will start developing it. The threat on world peace will be more magnified.