Clock Moves Forward Two Minutes

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists ^ | 01/15/2007 | Bulletin of Atomic Schietists

[gallaxyglue]

Clock Moves Forward Two Minutes

15 January 2007 | 10:27 PM

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) is moving the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock on January 17, 2007, from 7 to 5 minutes to midnight.

BAS announced the Clock change at an unprecedented joint news conference at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC, and the Royal Society in London. In a statement supporting the decision to move the hand of the Doomsday Clock, the BAS Board focused on two major sources of catastrophe: the perils of 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 of them ready to launch within minutes; and the destruction of human habitats from climate change.

Fourteen leading scientists and security experts writing in the January-February issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, explore further the potential for catastrophic damage from human-made technologies.

Created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted only 17 times prior to today, most recently in February 2002 after the events of 9/11. At that time, BAS underscored the slow progress on global nuclear disarmament.

By moving the hand of the Clock closer to midnight—the figurative end of civilization—the BAS Board is drawing attention to the increasing dangers from the spread of nuclear weapons in a world of violent conflict, and to the catastrophic harm from climate change that is unfolding.

At the announcement from London, Stephen Hawking, BAS Sponsor, professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of the Royal Society, said: "As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth. As citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change."

From Washington, Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin, said: "As we stand at the brink of a Second Nuclear Age and at the onset of unprecedented climate change, our way of thinking about the uses and control of technologies must change to prevent unspeakable destruction and future human suffering."

Sir Martin Rees, president of The Royal Society, professor of cosmology and astrophysics, master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, and BAS Sponsor said: "Nuclear weapons still pose the most catastrophic and immediate threat to humanity, but climate change and emerging technologies in the life sciences also have the potential to end civilization as we know it."

Lawrence M. Krauss, another BAS Sponsor and professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, said: "In these dangerous times, scientists have a responsibility to speak truth to power especially if it might provoke actions to reduce threats from the preventable technological dangers currently facing humanity. To do anything else would be negligent."

Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a BAS director and co-chair of the International Crisis Group, said: "Although our current situation is dire, we have the means today to successfully address these global problems. For example, through vigorous diplomacy and international agencies like the International Atomic Energy Agency, we can negotiate and implement agreements that could protect us all from the most destructive technology on Earth—nuclear weapons."

[gallaxyglue]

I guess the freeze in California wasn't enough.

[evad]

Excellent!

[ArrogantBustard]

BAS = BS

[Names Ash Housewares]

Bull crap!!!

Here is the proper "clock" to be watching....

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DP.CLOCK.HTM

[E. Pluribus Unum]

We need a nuclear jihad clock showing how close the jihadists are to detonating a nuke from a container ship in New York Harbor.

That one is a lot closer to midnight.

[lawdude]

BFD!

[jagusafr]

GASP! Yeah, waddevah...

[frankenMonkey]

Have they adjusted for Daylight Savings??
We might have just a bit more time...

[edpc]

The perils of 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 of them ready to launch within minutes; and the destruction of human habitats from climate change.

Oh, come on......nothing here about A. Q. Khan spreading dangerous information or the Iranians hiding their nuclear program and openly threatening Israel? What a load.

[weegee]

"...the BAS Board is drawing attention ...to the catastrophic harm from climate change that is unfolding."

Chicken Little alert.

What about moving it forward because of that big nasty asteroid heading towards Earth?

[Patrick1]

Seems this collection of suckers at the taxpayer's tit have gone to a bunch of bother to get on the news for one day.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

C'mon, what really happened is that they watched the last few episodes of "24."

[AnnaZ]

Two Minutes To Midnight

Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason
The golden goose is on the loose
And never out of season
Some blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death.
The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour
The fortune
The pain
Go to war again
Blood is freedom's strain
But don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb.

The blind men shout let the creatures out
We'll show the unbelievers
The napalm screams of human flames
Of a prime time belsen feast...yeah
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat and lick the gravy,
We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies.

The killer's breed or the demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
But don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb.

The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you.
As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song,
To the tune of starving millions to make a better kind of gun.

The killer's breed or the demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
But don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb.

Midnight all night

[Grendel9]

"...Stephen Hawking, BAS Sponsor..."

That's all the further you need to read
on this piece!

[b4its2late]

It'll go back when a democrat wins the WH.....

[Sender]

Was that one minute for the global proliferation of nuclear weapons and almost certain mass terrorism, and one minute for an unusually warm winter? (except where it's cold)

[Nathan Zachary]

What climate change? There is no global warming trend. the 20th century ended with overall global cooling. In fact since 1930's the warmest decade, despite carbon emissions increasing 24%, we've never had temperatures that high again. The Greenland glaciers have a net GAIN in mass, as do they at the south pole. There are dozens of research papers which all come to the same conclusion. The earth is cooling, and has been cooling over all since the 1400's. There is no global warming. Carbon dioxide is not a dangerous gas. Kyoto is a scam. Science news

[oblomov]

"In these dangerous times, scientists have a responsibility to speak truth to power

Government workers "speaking truth to power"? They are "power".

[princess leah]

Did they move the clock on 9/11?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

...Stephen Hawking, BAS Sponsor "...and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change."

As Will Rogers said, "We are all ignorant, just about different things." Human nature and climate change are not Hawking's areas of expertise. Just as Michael J. Fox and others, he is letting himself be used by those with an agenda, even if it is his agenda also.