Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight

[UM-Bot]

Scientists have moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/303147/doomsday-clock-moves-closer-to-midnight

[StarMountainKid]

I was reading about that, too, this morning.  Hopefully, there is a moment when we draw back and think rationally.

[Space Commander Travis]

All together now, because of Tr*mp?  And these Scientists or whoever it is looks after this silly idea are of course completely neutral and not biased in any way at all. 

[freetoroam]

That will give them a bit longer to protest about the cuts in funding.

Edited January 26, 2017 by freetoroam

[Likely Guy]

28 minutes ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

All together now, because of Tr*mp?  And these Scientists or whoever it is looks after this silly idea are of course completely neutral and not biased in any way at all. 

9 terrifying things Donald Trump has publicly said about nuclear weapons

https://thinkprogress.org/9-terrifying-things-donald-trump-has-publicly-said-about-nuclear-weapons-99f6290bc32a#.jdblurfxs

[Space Commander Travis]

And in equally large font you'll be happy to provide us with all the headlines about Obama/Clinton's desire for war with Syria and their rantings about the World's #1 Satan, Vlad Putin?

[highdesert50]

31 minutes ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

All together now, because of Tr*mp?  And these Scientists or whoever it is looks after this silly idea are of course completely neutral and not biased in any way at all. 

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists who “could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work.” Sponsors include a host of Nobel laureates and authors, the likes of Arthur C Clark. So, indeed you are correct in that these individuals do look at biases and how they impact humanity. Worth an educational trip to their site.

[woopypooky]

They just have to move it to 11:59:59 and forget about it.

[The Butler]

6 hours ago, highdesert50 said:

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists who “could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work.” Sponsors include a host of Nobel laureates and authors, the likes of Arthur C Clark. So, indeed you are correct in that these individuals do look at biases and how they impact humanity. Worth an educational trip to their site.

It's a political statement. It's a political concept. There is no science applied, only political opinion. 

All the justification on earth doesn't change that. 

[Doc Socks Junior]

6 hours ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

And in equally large font you'll be happy to provide us with all the headlines about Obama/Clinton's desire for war with Syria and their rantings about the World's #1 Satan, Vlad Putin?

Was that an oblique reference to the Satan II missile recently developed by Russia?

Of course, being friendlier with Russia is a bad thing? It's why this "Doomsday Clock" is a crock.

[coolguy]

This clock has been 2 mins to mid nite lots of times now that trump is president there makeing a big deal about it its all bull crap

[GlitterRose]

Two and a half minutes.

Eternal optimists, eh?

 

I feel the need to quote Lebowski now.

Nothing is ******????!!!  Nothing is ******???!!!

The ******** plane has crashed into the mountain!!!!

Edited January 27, 2017 by ChaosRose

[Doc Socks Junior]

Get a grip on yourself.

[Space Commander Travis]

I'm afraid it's too late for that. Already the Tyrant has sent round his Gestapo squads to knock down the doors of anyone who supported the Democractic party and take away their sense of proportion and incarcerate it in concentration camps. It's sad really. :sad: 

[aquatus1]

Don't be silly.  You are just confusing the times he's demanded the names of everyone who supported things he didn't believe in.

[StarMountainKid]

There have been nuclear weapons now for about 70 years and we've not destroyed ourselves yet. That's amazing to me. Seems those with this capability have some concept of the consequences of using them.

In Nevil Shute's novel, "On The Beach", a global nuclear war begins by a series of misinterpretations of events in the Middle East. After the first nuclear weapon is used by a small country, it snowballs and everyone reacts and the bombs rain down everywhere.

Thing is, When some nation's Capitol.is nuked, its leaders are dead and the lower ranks are now responsible, and they panic and start pushing buttons.in retaliation. In the novel, no one actually knows how the war started, it's a complicated series of events that get quickly out of hand.

I think the Doomsday Clock is a good idea, it reminds us that such an event could indeed happen. All it takes is one madman feeling his back is against the wall and this is his only alternative.

[StarMountainKid]

As an edit to my above post, "One The Beach" is a great novel to read. The movie made from the book is very  good, too. In the end, no one survives the war, the human race is totally exterminated by radiation, because of the use of cobalt nuclear bombs.

The use of cobalt in nuclear weapons is supposed to be outlawed, but who knows if they still exist in some country's stockpile? If some terrorist group would obtain a nuclear weapon from one of the former Soviet Union satellite countries, Albania, for instance, I'm sure they would use it. This kind of scenario could result in a real Doomsday.

So, as I said, the Doomsday Clock should remind us that nuclear war is always a possibility. 

[LV-426]

Wake me up when we reach 2 Minutes To Midnight. At least we can get some mileage out of pop culture then

 

[Wickian]

Obama gets elected and he gets a Nobel Peace prize for it.  Trump gets elected and he's apparently going to start WWIII for fulfilling some of his campaign promises.

It's a good think we buckled up because this whambulance ride the media is driving won't be ending any time soon.

[+and-then]

On 1/27/2017 at 10:00 AM, StarMountainKid said:

There have been nuclear weapons now for about 70 years and we've not destroyed ourselves yet. That's amazing to me. Seems those with this capability have some concept of the consequences of using them.

In Nevil Shute's novel, "On The Beach", a global nuclear war begins by a series of misinterpretations of events in the Middle East. After the first nuclear weapon is used by a small country, it snowballs and everyone reacts and the bombs rain down everywhere.

Thing is, When some nation's Capitol.is nuked, its leaders are dead and the lower ranks are now responsible, and they panic and start pushing buttons.in retaliation. In the novel, no one actually knows how the war started, it's a complicated series of events that get quickly out of hand.

I think the Doomsday Clock is a good idea, it reminds us that such an event could indeed happen. All it takes is one madman feeling his back is against the wall and this is his only alternative.

 

The concept is good, yes.  The fact that it has begun to appear to be fraught with political bias renders it pointless and soon, unbelievable.  Thanks for the review of that book. I plan to listen to it soon.

[Doug1029]

On ‎1‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 0:27 PM, StarMountainKid said:

The use of cobalt in nuclear weapons is supposed to be outlawed, but who knows if they still exist in some country's stockpile? If some terrorist group would obtain a nuclear weapon from one of the former Soviet Union satellite countries, Albania, for instance, I'm sure they would use it. This kind of scenario could result in a real Doomsday.

Don't know if this is true, but the US supposedly has about ten cobalt bombs in storage at Los Alamos.  I have that information from two sources:  a former engineer at Los Alamos and a nuclear scientist who still works there.

Doug

Edited January 28, 2017 by Doug1029

[Doug1029]

On ‎1‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 10:00 AM, StarMountainKid said:

There have been nuclear weapons now for about 70 years and we've not destroyed ourselves yet.

The operative word being "yet."  That includes the eleven warheads the US admits to having lost, plus an unknown number it doesn't admit to.  Not to mention the Russians who won't admit to anything.  Add to that the military definition that it's not a nuclear accident unless there's a leak or detonation - a fuel explosion on a nuclear missile doesn't count.

During a recent false alarm, our leaders had so much confidence in the nuclear safeguards that they parked armored cars on top of the missile siloes - just in case.  If they don't believe in them, is there a reason I should?

Doug

[StarMountainKid]

From the tree above posts it seems an accident or miscalculation is very possible. Watch the movie, "Fail Safe', for example.

Mutual assured destruction or mutually assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction

This usually infers the U.S. and Russia. However, some other nuclear equipped nation could use a nuclear device in a crisis of their own that could, as events become complicated, lead to a full nuclear war, as in the novel, "On The Beach", as Ive mentioned.

[taniwha]

On 28/01/2017 at 7:43 AM, LV-426 said:

Wake me up when we reach 2 Minutes To Midnight. At least we can get some mileage out of pop culture then

 

Why so gloomy?

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by taniwha
Fun

[Doc Socks Junior]

23 hours ago, Doug1o29 said:

Don't know if this is true, but the US supposedly has about ten cobalt bombs in storage at Los Alamos.  I have that information from two sources:  a former engineer at Los Alamos and a nuclear scientist who still works there.

Doug

If that is true, I'm glad to see they're taking their security clearances seriously.