Why Is doomsday clock Trending Today?

Tbh, I think that means the clock is now set for America’s life as a relevant nation. What a weirdly ironic turnout

It gives doomers something to fear

Almost all of the arms control measures established during the Cold War are gone now. There is a new nuclear arms race happening, especially with China building up a force to match the US and Russia. What’s worse is that the possibility for direct confrontation between nuclear powers could actually be higher than during the Cold War. The Soviet Union never actually intended to start a war in Europe as Russia has today with it’s Ukraine invasion. The hybrid war currently going on between Russia and the west in the economic and cyber realm is extremely alarming, like nothing we ever saw even at the worst times of the Cold War. With the erosion of trust between NATO allies, weak European defense posture, even the break up of NATO, Russia could be tempted to do something reckless, as they already have. Then there is the issue of Taiwan, which is probably the worst issue of them all. It presents a real scenario in which China and the US will have a direct confrontation, which means the risk of escalation is there. Xi has said in increasingly forceful language that China will be reunited, and I don’t think he is fucking around. Even at their worst, the Soviets weren’t openly threatening to conquer US allies. For all the fun we have thinking about what the Warsaw Pact vs NATO war would have looked like, it’s always a struggle to come up with a realistic scenario for why the two sides would start hostilities to begin with. Soviets invade West Germany because… Why? Today, we have a real scenario. China invades Taiwan because they say they will, that’s a good reason to expect a real possibility of direct confrontation between the US and China. On top of that, the threat of nuclear terrorism, along with rogue states, seems to be getting worse. Especially with North Korea having an increasingly sophisticated nuclear arsenal that would include submarine launched ballistic missiles. This is directly related to Ukraine, because Russia is giving them missile technology in exchange for North Korean soldiers on the frontlines against the Ukrainians. This is to say nothing of climate change, on which there are tremendous volumes of literature explaining why the deteriorating environment will lead to resource scarcity and conflict, making nuclear war more likely. So yes, there is a very good argument that we are closer to destruction now than we ever were.

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we’d better watch ourselves or the clock might move to 80 seconds to midnight, then 5 seconds, then 3 seconds, then 1.5 seconds then 1 second then 0.5 seconds then 12 picoseconds then… etc etc

I don’t buy it. The Doomsday Clock is BS. It keeps putting us closer and closer to nuclear armaggeddon just for a publicity stunt. There is no way we are closer to midnight than ever before. The closest we were ever at midnight was 1962 (though the clock does not reflect that reality), and since 1991, the threat is significantly decreased. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the risk is heightened, sure, but it is still nowhere near the threat it was during the Cold War. A big flaw of the organization is that they tried to also incorporate other threats to humanity like global warming, proxy wars, and the AI bubble popping. The clock was invented for nuclear threats, and I believe it should stay that way. For it to say that we are on the cusp of apocalypse is grossly over-exaggerating reality. We may have problems, but I would be shocked if we couldn’t overcome them.

I hear “closest ever to midnight” literally whenever this clock comes up, sometimes multiple times

I mean clocks normally get closer to midnight every time you check unless it’s just past midnight

Maybe that’s just a sign of the times we’re in?

Bro during the Cuban missile crisis a submarine commander gave the order to fire a nuclear missile and was stopped by one guys say so.

We have been much worse

I’ve heard about it moving back a couple times. But its not nearly as headline/attention grabbing, obviously.

Probably because the only time it warrants discussion is when they move it? Just a guess.

The cuban missile crisis was the closes we ever got. One man on a soviet nuclear sub refused to authorise the launch of a nuclear torpedo at the american blockade, which would have undoubtedly triggered a nuclear war. The whole submarine was under the impression war had already broken out, which is why they got so close to launching the torpedo. Then there was that time when a soviet radar operator in kamchatka tought he saw a wave of american bombers approaching, but refused to alert his supervisor. His radar screen was malfunctioning and there was no american bomber fleet. Edit: Thanks u/GavinGenius for reminding me of the name. Vasily Archipov was the name of the sub officer. Such an important man mostly forgotten by time. Edit 2: The radar operator was called Stanislav Petrov How is it, that in 2026, we are supposedly closer to the end of the world than two separate occasions where a single man had to make a snap decision over the fate of the globe? It would have taken a single word from the submarine’s officer, or a quick phone call from the radar operator.

That’s why on January 29th every year, I celebrate Vasily Archipov Day to commemorate the birthday of the man who saved the world.

Thank you for reminding me of the name! The date is coming up soon so I’ll be sure to celebrate right there with you

Oh and there was also a similar incident in 1983, where Stanislav Petrov prevented a nuclear war by insisting on a false alarm after the radar system showed a nuclear launch from America

It doesn’t only consider things like war. It also considers things like Anthropogenic Climate Change and actually that is probably the biggest factor considering how close we are to screwing pollinators over massively which would screw over our entire food chain.

I’m really pessimistic about everything, but after two world wars, various plagues, market crashes and other dissasters, the curresnt situation feels stable compared to the past

Honestly if anyone believes anything going on in the world right now will lead to end of humanity is definitely in some doomer echo chamber

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There is a gradient between nothing happening and ending the world. Nobody wants to actually MAD, so they will talk and threaten a lot. Maybe there will be a war, but it will be fought as always with arms tied behind their backs or against some country without any hope of fighting back. Maybe an economy collapses, maybe the world economy collapses. But still, very unlikely for anyone to actually start firing nukes over any of that. In fact, to me the most likely thing that would fire nukes is some aging leader who knows he is gunna die and is actually that egotistical to try to wipe the world out with them as a funeral pyre. And the guys below to be so dumb / hate filled that we don’t get a Cuban Missile Crisis where the guys down the chain don’t actually want to end the world so no sale the firing of the missile.

But just in case let me delete my cookies

Nuclear weapons aren’t even close to the top of my worries list right now Despite how stupid a lot of leaders are, I don’t think they’re stupid enough to do it yet And the ones that are stupid enough most likely wouldn’t have the capability to make that decision by themselves

For real. That clock could struck midnight twice, and the worst thing that would have happened is the check engine light turned on for one of their board members.

The second paragraph of your comment makes their point beautifully. These people are somewhat bright and well learned, and the fact that most people react to what they are saying like you do is exactly why they are saying what they are saying. I think their point is very valid and nuclear armageddon is the least of our worries because humanity is stupid, arrogant and self serving.

I always thought the Doomsday Clock was about global catastrophic risks. I might be brainwashed, in which so I’ll allow someone to snap me back to reality.

Your going to look so silly when something finally happens after all this nothing that happened

The clock ia just so stupid as time slowly creeps up but never creeps down as much as it did. The scale of time of it keeps getting smaller and smaller. The 90 seconds of today would ne 5 minutes 20 years ago even if the threats are the same. It is so subjective and just serves as media stunt and alarmism

THE POOP MYSELF CLOCK IS 2 SECONDS CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT.

What happens at midnight?

I think he does everything possible but poop himself

The Poopening.

A brutal shart

Turdsday

Mine is already past midnight

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