My Doomsday Clock is Ticking Like This...

" In a purely symbolic but still unsettling move, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the minute hand on its Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight. On the 60-year-old Doomsday Clock, midnight is nuclear destruction, the end of life as we know it..." - Read the rest of the article.

So we are now five minutes to midnight, and from what I learned at the Eric Clapton concert, we're soon gonna let it all hang out. After the last six years of code reds and a base level of public paranoia, this announcement (which is purely symbolic, yet should be taken seriously) seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I couldn't even find a decent article on it in the New York Times. But here is an interesting reaction to the announcement, which should be taken seriously. In it, Stephen Hawking states:

"As we stand at the brink of a second nuclear age and a period of unprecedented climate change, scientists have a special responsibility once again to inform the public and advise leaders about the perils that humanity faces." Read full article.

We are entering a new era, a second nuclear age, in which the problem that we face and their hopeful solutions stem from the technological advancements and science. The solutions lie entwined within the root of the problems, and to dismiss science as theory would be to disregard any hope for the answers. As JFK said in his inaugural address, "Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors."

Somehow, though I can barely remember the cold war outside of endless viewings of Rocky IV, the US and Russia still have over 26,000 nuclear weapons at the ready. The idea that these stockpiles were composed for the purpose of a deterrent comes off as fallacious. Nevertheless, the 18 nobel laureates who have moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock also cite the impending dangers of climate change as factors in this decision. With need to find alternative energy sources, nuclear options will grow widely available and allow for nations to use the technology to form nuclear stockpiles.

If you're not concerned about this, or at least titillated by the "24"esque scenario that we could be facing, then I doubt that you'd be the type of person to get this far into this blog. If your reaction includes nausea, sleeplessness, mood swings, or all of the above then you are either hungover or may want to look into ways to curb your energy intake, keep electing officials who take this threat seriously, and maybe pick up a copy of Dr. Strangelove. Whatever you do, I suggest that you get to it soon, because according to the clock, it's just a mater of time. And I feel fine...Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform da da da da da...