Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight

[bitwarrior]

(CNN)The world is closer to doomsday.

That's the message from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which moved its iconic Doomsday Clock up two minutes on Thursday. The clock now stands at three minutes to midnight, the "latest" it's been since 1984, when the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union was a major issue.

"Today, unchecked climate change and a nuclear arms race resulting from modernization of huge arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity. And world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe," said Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in a news release. "These failures of leadership endanger every person on Earth."

The Bulletin's Science and Security Board looks at global issues on a regular basis and decides whether to move the minute hand of the clock, with particular stress on the status of nuclear arms and reaction to climate issues.

In recent years, the clock has moved the wrong direction for humanity. After standing at 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 -- the furthest it's ever been from the end of the world -- it's gotten closer each time it's been changed since, with the exception of 2010, when it was pushed back by one minute to 11:54 p.m.

The last time the clock was moved was in 2012, when it was moved up one minute to 11:55.

 
The scientists expressed disappointment at the latest developments.

-http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/23/us/feat-doomsday-clock-three-minutes-midnight/index.html

[Rishblitz]

Well we as a species have many problems. if we can get past the bottleneck of our century we can be able to solve many things.

[grendel25]

Yeah, I'd be more concerned of the unknowns like a random solar flare or a huge asteroid hitting Earth.  Humans are incredibly adaptable but not adaptability and ingenuity doesn't mean much when the earth is instantly destroyed in one huge fireball.

[(Lithium)]

any place where how the time is calculated is explained?

It looks like the clock is always near midnight, no matter what

[bitwarrior]

Here ya go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock

Doomsday Clock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Minutes to Midnight" redirects here, along with other titles incorporating that term. For other uses, see Minutes to Midnight (disambiguation). For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see Doomsday Clock (song).

Cover of the 1947 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issue that first featured the Doomsday Clock at seven minutes to midnight (11:53 pm), although the "clock face" appears to be one minute earlier
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, representing a countdown to possible politically-related global catastrophe (nuclear war or climate change). It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,[1] who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the closer the scientists believe the world is to global disaster.

Originally, the Clock, which hangs on a wall in the Bulletin's office in the University of Chicago,[2] represented an analogy for the threat of global nuclear war; however, since 2007 it has also reflected climate change[3] and new developments in the life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity.[4] The most recent officially announced setting—three minutes to midnight (11:57 pm)—was made on January 22, 2015.[5]

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

Here ya go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock

Doomsday Clock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Minutes to Midnight" redirects here, along with other titles incorporating that term. For other uses, see Minutes to Midnight (disambiguation). For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see Doomsday Clock (song).

Cover of the 1947 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issue that first featured the Doomsday Clock at seven minutes to midnight (11:53 pm), although the "clock face" appears to be one minute earlier
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, representing a countdown to possible politically-related global catastrophe (nuclear war or climate change). It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,[1] who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the closer the scientists believe the world is to global disaster.

Originally, the Clock, which hangs on a wall in the Bulletin's office in the University of Chicago,[2] represented an analogy for the threat of global nuclear war; however, since 2007 it has also reflected climate change[3] and new developments in the life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity.[4] The most recent officially announced setting—three minutes to midnight (11:57 pm)—was made on January 22, 2015.[5]

When this baby goes up again, it will mean Bitcoin is about to deploy some disruptive bombs up in this bitch.

[Possum577]

any place where how the time is calculated is explained?

It looks like the clock is always near midnight, no matter what

It's just an assessment from the people that created it. It's not some calculation.

The challenge is that these sort of things never get people to act. No leaders are changing things because of the "Doomsday Clock"