The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock: a metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
  • SolidGrue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    492·
    10 months ago

    That thing has been at or past 5 minute to midnight my entire life. Can’t live your whole life in fear.

    Yeah even you, Boomers.

      • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        136·
        10 months ago

        If the argument is that the long-term trends of humanity are such that we have a significantly higher chance of self-ceasing (an argument that I’d agree with given climate change), then that needs to be stated, especially since the clock has generally been seen as how close we are to imminent destruction.

        The question, then, is how to best represent the fact that we’re already knee deep in a slow moving global catastrophe, as opposed to on the brink of an imminent one?

          • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
            75·
            10 months ago

            The question remains. The clock is supposed to be about impending doom. Slow moving disasters can include many things and I used climate change as an example. But there are many others. Disease, blight and even an asteroid if it’s big enough.

            • DessertStorms@kbin.social
              63·
              10 months ago

              The issue really is that these people don’t like the reminder because they don’t want to act because they are still comfortable and they know any meaningful action “threatens” their way of life (because they can only think within the box capitalism created for them, making them fear anything outside of it).

              They’ll tell you they do act until they’re blue in the face, but it will come down to things like driving an EV and using a reusable cup at Starbucks. Because it’s about making themselves feel better, not fighting the actual problem - same as framing the clock as fearmongering instead of the desperate call to action it has become…

                • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  10 months ago

                  How many different ways can I tell you guys that a doomsday clock is the most ludicrous and flatly ineffective tool for communicating the stresses we’re facing in the 21st century? Do you need me to send you a telegram? Maybe a passenger pigeon? I can have it written in the sky by a biplane if that’ll help. Maybe in another language? Hieroglyphics perhaps?

                  My dude, I studied this. I have two graduate degrees in these subjects. I’m no stranger to the very real problems we’re facing as a global species, and in fact I’ve dedicated my entire career to fighting environmental degradation, often at the expense of my family, my finances, and my health.

                  A DOOMSDAY CLOCK IS STUPID AND HASN’T HELPED ME OR ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES AT ANY POINT IN OUR ENTIRE PROFESSIONAL CAREERS.

                  God fucking damn y’all are dense.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    94·
    10 months ago

    “Could be worse. Could be 89 seconds till midnight.”

    ~ The Glass Is Half Full Person

  • roastedDeflator@kbin.social
    94·
    10 months ago

    If we take into consideration that we started the year with a Genocide taking place in Palestine, that doesn’t sound surprising to me.

  • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    311·
    10 months ago

    What the hell is this title. It’s like it’s some alien device planted here in the dawn of time and it just all of a sudden updated itself.

    Some people decided things are looking black bleak based on things other people say. 🤷‍♂️

      • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        10 months ago

        I’m not saying I’m not aware of it or never heard of it… That’s not my point at all.

    • DessertStorms@kbin.social
      45·
      10 months ago

      Some people decided things are looking black based on things other people say. 🤷‍♂️

      Is the same line used by climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers… 🤷‍♀️

      (I’m the last person to say blindly follow or even respect authority, but this isn’t about authority, it’s about knowledge, which the people who make these decisions have significantly more of than you, or me)

      Also, you’d have to have your head reaaaaaal deep up your own ass to think things are going well on this planet, it’s not as if they’re even saying anything outlandish or far fetched… 🤦‍♀️

      • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        10 months ago

        I’m not going to debate this, because I’m not on either side of this debate. I’ve seen enough (valid scientific) arguments on both sides to realize that I/we simply know too little to get into it with.

        I’m not a climate change denier either. The change has happened and is happening. Everyone is noticing it without having to use any measuring instruments.

        Not really the point I was trying to make though anyway. I’m not from America so I don’t partake in their black-and-white type of argumentation. “Either this or that”, you know?

        I’m just simply saying the doomsday clock isn’t some magical device saying “we’re fucked now guys”, but that it’s updated by humans.

        I think it’s spreading fear unnecessarily by saying “LOOK AT IT, WE’RE GONNA DIE” instead of focusing on what we can do. There’s my two cents.