What Is This Doomsday Clock Nonsense?
Who are the losers behind
the Doomsday Clock? And
why isn’t anyone yawning?
It’s the weirdest thing. Every January, some faceless, nameless yahoos announce that it is “x minutes to midnight” and the world offers a moment of silence. Like rubber ducks, all the media repeat the announcement as if everyone must bow their heads in guilt, fear, and shame.
- ‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight (Phys.org, 28 Jan 2025). No criticism offered.
- Doomsday Clock is now 89 seconds to midnight, the closest yet to catastrophe (Live Science, 28 Jan 2025). No criticism offered.
- ‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closer to Midnight (Reuters, via Newsmax). No criticism offered.
But good news: the Doomsday Clock has been falsified! January 2023’s prediction of “90 seconds to midnight” failed the day it was made, and we’re all still here. Can we ignore the yahoos as kooks and get on with our lives? Not entirely; the founders were highly gifted and intelligent men. Wikipedia says,
The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the estimated likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Created by J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein & Eugene Rabinowitch and maintained since 1947, the Clock is a metaphor, not a prediction, for threats to humanity from unchecked scientific and technological advances. That is, the time on the Clock is not to be interpreted as actual time. A hypothetical global catastrophe is represented by midnight on the Clock, with the Bulletin’s opinion on how close the world is to one represented by a certain number of minutes or seconds to midnight, which is then assessed in January of each year.
It’s a pure media stunt, of course— but it is geared to push a certain political message: global cooperation, unilateral disarmament, and action on climate change (see Reuters article echoed on conservative Newsmax).
This week the clock was moved to 89 seconds before midnight. Wikipedia says that the choice was made due to “The continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Middle Eastern crisis, increased nuclear proliferation, effects of climate change, biological threats, and advancing technologies.”
Scientists Acting Unscientifically
We mean no disparagement to Einstein, Oppenheimer and other eminent scientists who were among those dreaming up this symbol in 1947, fresh with the memories of nuclear blasts after World War II. But those men are long gone. Today’s decision makers in an international group of researchers called the Chicago Atomic Scientists, who decide how close to midnight to move the clock, are not acting scientifically. Even liberal Stephen Pinker lambasted the Doomsday Clock as a stunt:
Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker harshly criticized the Doomsday Clock as a political stunt, pointing to the words of its founder that its purpose was “to preserve civilization by scaring men into rationality”. He stated that it is inconsistent and not based on any objective indicators of security, using as an example its being farther from midnight in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis than in the “far calmer 2007”. He argued it was another example of humanity’s tendency toward historical pessimism, and compared it to other predictions of self-destruction that went unfulfilled.
The political messaging is more than a stunt. It’s a sermon by liberal globalists to push the world toward obeisance to scientific elites. One of the leaders deciding to move the Clock one more second closer to midnight is Daniel Holz. Listen to his bias: “While there has been impressive growth in wind and solar energy, the world is still falling short of what is necessary to prevent the worst aspects of climate change.” Does he really think China, Russia, or North Korea care a spit about that?
The obvious targets of the Clock sermon are America and the West. Else why were the liberal scientists silent last year about Russia’s credible threat to retaliate against Ukraine with nuclear bombs? And why didn’t they move the minute hand farther from midnight now that Donald Trump is acting on promises to bring a new golden age to America? Trump has spoken publicly and specifically about his goals repeatedly for a year, including plans for peace deals in the Middle East, an end to the war in Ukraine, an Iron Dome over North America, reduction in nuclear arsenals between the superpowers, pushback on Russian and Chinese aggression, and fair trade deals between nations. This past week has illustrated his motto, “Promises made; promises kept.” You would think Holz would be celebrating with relief and taking an axe to the phony clock.
But he can’t. The Chicago Atomic Scientists are “scientists” – i.e., the shamans of culture who demand obeisance from the peasants whether or not they act scientifically or not (see 6 Nov 2024). They are overwhelmingly liberals and leftists. Holz has sacrificed his mind and logic to his liberal colleagues.
To respond rationally with respect for scientific integrity, therefore, demands ignoring the Doomsday Clock, recognizing it as a evidence-free stunt by global leftists, and cheerfully going on with your life.
More Political Bias from Big Science
Chaos erupts in US science as Trump’s team declares freeze on federal grants (Nature, 28 Jan 2025). Whose money is it, you elitist rascals?
Climate change made LA fires worse, scientists say (BBC News, 28 Jan 2025). What? Nothing about the failed policies of California’s far left government that ignored forest management and closed off the water to Los Angeles? Nothing about Trump visiting Los Angeles firefighters and government officials, promising aid and promoting sound policies to reduce fire risks?
Trump’s second presidency: How our deepest fears can shape political outcomes (The Conversation, 16 Jan 2025). Why must we read the rant of a “political ecologist” instead of someone like Stephen Miller or Victor Davis Hanson? No “conversation” here; just a diatribe from a leftist in academia. That’s par for the course on this pseudo-science website that only rarely tosses a pearl into its leftist pigpen.
What Trump’s first week means for climate, science, health and tech (New Scientist, 27 Jan 2025). Ms Chelsea Whyte, is there not even one little thing you can find to be happy about after four years of catastrophes under Biden? “In a barrage of executive orders, President Donald Trump has set the US on course to derail climate goals, biomedical research and pandemic readiness.” If the price of eggs and gas goes down, will Chelsea be happy?
Too many headlines like this to list here. You get the picture: the “scientists” behind the Doomsday Clock and all the fearmongering over the change in American politics are not acting scientifically. They did not arrive at their views by applying the “scientific method” dispassionately and objectively.
As political activists, therefore, they can be safely ignored. In this biased hunt, there’s probably no dog. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Comments
First of all, I am Christian (pro Bible conservative on morality, pro free market, anti-war, anti statism&globalism).
Yes doomsday clock is just a symbol and taken as a grain of salt. But I believe we are dangerously close to having a nuclear catastrophe and definitely closest since the Cuban missile crises. It is not based on the book of Revelation since I am a preterist with most of Revelation fulfilled prior to the fall of Jerusalem 70AD. The Ukraine war is a real nuclear threat. Russia has the upper hand and Ukraine is in bad shape. Ukraine has a long history and our CIA overthrew their government in 2014 which led to this war. Russia has legitimate security needs which is why they went to war. Our gov’t has a plan w/o considering Russia’s security needs. Trump can’t bully Putin. Russia is likely not to accept ceasefire w/o their security needs being met which are quite reasonable and they will keep advancing westward. What we will do to stop them? Don’t forget that we unnecessarily dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. They have the devastating hypersonic missiles which we don’t at this time.
The Israel mess is another serious nuclear war threat in the Middle East especially when considering Iran. They will eventually have nuclear weapons and they are ally with Russia.
Shame on Israel for carrying out the Gaza genocide and ethnic cleansing. Why are we supporting Israel and bringing this mess closer to nuclear war? The modern state of Israel is an anti-Christ, atheistic and apartheid state. They are not God’s chosen people. We are in the new Covenant of Christ. Netanyahu is an evil war criminal pursuing his grater Israel project. There is no land promise for them as it was fulfilled in the OT. Among the modern Jews there is not an ounce of Abraham’s blood – they are Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. Many of them worship Judaism’s strange gods.
There are many Palestinian Christians (our brothers and sisters) that have that have been devastated by the genocide and they get no help. The Palestinians have been in Palestine over a thousand years and the Modern Jews have no right to terrorize and drive them out since 1945. A two state solution is needed and Israel go back to its 1967 boundaries. The Hamas have not been defeated and they are alive and well. The Palestinians are not leaving Palestine.
If you want to write a religio/political essay, get your own website. This space is for comments only and should be restricted to the subject of the article: the meaningfulness of the Doomsday Clock.