“Humanity Edging Closer To Catastrophe”: Iconic Doomsday Clock moves one second closer to midnight as global existential threats rage. Clock factors include nuclear weapons, climate crisis, artificial intelligence, infectious diseases, and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Doomsday Clock seems like it has evolved into a weird, arbitrary floating reference for The Ambiguous Anxiety, lost of the context it was born from, resurfacing every now and again completely without influence, yet speaking with the authority of a deliberately unnamed global majority regardless, and each time as more of an estranged artifact in purpose, ritual, and name than before. A fabric from a totally different social weave, but presenting itself as the eternal binding thread at the heart of our fruitless society
it really does feel strange to see it in the news rather than in an archive or a history book
It made sense in a world where MAD was still a new concept, international standards for nuclear stuff was still being ironed out, and the cold war was at its most intense. But today? If you want a barometer for existential crisis, look at the change in average °C
The Doomsday Clock seems like it has evolved into a weird, arbitrary floating reference for The Ambiguous Anxiety, lost of the context it was born from, resurfacing every now and again completely without influence, yet speaking with the authority of a deliberately unnamed global majority regardless, and each time as more of an estranged artifact in purpose, ritual, and name than before. A fabric from a totally different social weave, but presenting itself as the eternal binding thread at the heart of our fruitless society
it really does feel strange to see it in the news rather than in an archive or a history book
It made sense in a world where MAD was still a new concept, international standards for nuclear stuff was still being ironed out, and the cold war was at its most intense. But today? If you want a barometer for existential crisis, look at the change in average °C
Good post