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Doomsday Clock: Iron Maiden -Two Minutes to Midnight

By Aaron Tyler on January 24, 2019

UPDATE JAN/24/2019: The Doomsday Clock remained at two minutes from midnight following its most recent update Thursday. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists hosted a live international news conference in Washington DC, to announce the 2019 time of the Doomsday Clock. The bulletin focused on nuclear risk, climate change, and cyber-enabled warfare. Citing lack of progress on nuclear risks and climate change dangers as “the new abnormal,” the Doomsday Clock remains at 2 minutes to midnight, as close to the symbolic point of annihilation that the iconic Clock has been since 1953 at the height of the Cold War. The decision announced today to keep the Doomsday Clock at two minutes before midnight was made by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board in consultation with the Board of Sponsors, which includes 14 Nobel Laureates. technology. https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/

# Doomsday Clock.

Iron Maiden’s classic song, “Two Minutes to Midnight” is especially poignant today. The song is about the threat of nuclear war and the ominous sounding, Doomsday Clock. This week, scientists are deciding whether to adjust the clock from its current position of three minutes to two minutes. When asked about the song Bruce Dickinson explained: “It’s about the romance of war, and how we’re all repelled and fascinated by it at the same time.”

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face that represents a countdown to a possible global catastrophe (e.g., nuclear war or climate change). It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ Science and Security Board, who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the more vulnerable the scientists believe the world is to global disaster.

Originally, the Clock, which hangs on a wall in The Bulletin’s office in the University of Chicago, represented an analogy for the threat of global nuclear war; however, since 2007 it has also reflected climate change and new developments in the life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity. The most recent officially announced setting—three minutes to midnight—was made in January 2015 due to “[un]checked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals”. This setting was retained in January 2016.

Factors influencing the 2017 deliberations regarding any adjustment that may be made to the Doomsday Clock include: a rise in strident nationalism worldwide, President Donald Trump’s comments on nuclear arms and climate issues prior to his inauguration on January 20th, a darkening global security landscape that is colored by increasingly sophisticated technology, and a growing disregard for scientific expertise.

In January 2016, the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand did not change, remaining at three minutes before midnight, the closest it has been to midnight since the early days of above-ground hydrogen bomb testing. The Clock was changed in 2015 from five to three minutes to midnight.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will host a live international news conference at 10 a.m. EST/1500 GMT on January 26, 2017, to announce whether the minute hand of the historic “Doomsday Clock” will be adjusted. Watch the 2017 Clock announcement live at the Bulletin: HERE.

Dedicated to the intelligentsia making all the big decisions. # Doomsday

By Stéphane Gallay from Onex, Switzerland

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
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 glamor, 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 blind men shout let the creatures out, we’ll show the unbelievers
The napalm screams of human flames, of a prime time Belsen feast
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 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

Midnight, midnight, it’s all night
Midnight, midnight, all night!

Writer/s: ADRIAN FREDERICK SMITH, BRUCE DICKINSON

Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group