Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight • Hacker News Board

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#41

Post by Retric » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:22 PM UTC

lagadu wrote: post #25

This is pathetic. It's not even a "doomsday" clock, it's a "a couple of random countries go to nuclear war with each other while the rest of civilisation watches and cleans up after they're done" clock. Sure, it'd be remembered in history books forever and up to hundreds of millions would die but this wouldn't even register on a "doomsday" scale.

Every country would see significant death totals from a very large scale nuclear exchange. 50-100 nukes would as you say be far less significant, but do 100x that and you get more worldwide impact.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#42

Post by Kenji » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:22 PM UTC

Lmao. They should call it Zeno's clock and move it halfway towards 12 every month.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#43

Post by hyperbovine » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

PopePompous wrote: post #11

It's depressing to see adults participate in such a stupid publicity stunt. Their silly clock was at 7 minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Does anyone think we're in a more dangerous moment now than we were then?

I do! The world did not erupt into nuke Armageddon in the 1960s because at the end of the day cooler heads prevailed and wound up doing nothing. Inaction saved the day.

In contrast, inaction is now precisely what will doom us.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#44

Post by KillerRAK » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

The Mayans applaud the efforts of these scientists.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#45

Post by iamcasen » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

tambienben wrote: post #13

>The group also cited concerns over public distrust of political leaders and the media, saying it is drawing away from the focus on real threats. So... depending on how they meant to word that, are they seriously wagging their finger at the public for not blindly falling in line behind this unprecedented, petty shit-show? That's an impressive amount of hubris.

No, I believe they are trying to say that rule of law is breaking down, and the fabric of our society is at stake.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#46

Post by drdeca » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:27 PM UTC

PopePompous wrote: post #11

It's depressing to see adults participate in such a stupid publicity stunt. Their silly clock was at 7 minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Does anyone think we're in a more dangerous moment now than we were then?

Maybe if they could say something like "until recently we over-estimated how close we were, but now we are approximately how close we previously thought we were" they could better emphasize problems by being able to correct recent hyperbole, and this could maybe help address the inconsistency you mention?

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#47

Post by martin1975 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:28 PM UTC

I feel like this clock has been asymptotically reaching midnight now for the last several decades and will do so for at least several more decades if not longer. In other words, it's about as accurate as predictions of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#48

Post by hi-im-mi-ih » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:29 PM UTC

ebbv wrote: post #32

Aye carumba the comments on this article are a cesspool. If you don’t think the way Trump and Kim Jong Un have been interacting is a reason for concern I don’t even know what to say to you. And the point of this isn’t to make people panic, it’s to point out how dangerous of a situation we are in and maybe get people to think about it and change course in some way.

I don't think that angry Twitter comments are a sure sign of impending nuclear war. We'll become wary when there are border skirmishes and killing of diplomats.

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#49

Post by aerotwelve » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:31 PM UTC

ataturk wrote: post #2

Does it ever move back? I mean, I've read this same article a half dozen times over the past 20 years or so and I keep wondering what kind of clock it is that is perpetually 5 mins. to midnight but can move two minutes forward all the time and yet NEVER REACH FREAKING MIDNIGHT?

Yes, the clock has been moved back several times.

There's a nice graph on Wikipedia that provides a nice overview that is worth taking a look at:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock#/media/File%3...

[edit: usage/grammar]

Re: Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead to 2 minutes to midnight

#50

Post by bllguo » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #35

Stories like this are the reason that I think that the following headline format is rightly banned from HN in the future: "Scientists ." Nobody cares that "scientists" did something. We care about the science of what they did, sure. But this is a built-in appeal to authority that seems completely anti-hacker to me.

The doomsday clock is somewhat silly, but I disagree in general. I think "appeal to authority" fallacy is misunderstood. How is it illogical to listen to qualified authorities? It only breaks when one uses authority in one field to claim credibility in something else.