The Apocalypse Clock is not an original idea; it is totally and completely stolen from an old idea, The Doomsday Clock. The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago as a way to discuss the perils of atomic war. They have in modern times adjusted their clock to look at not just atomic war but any type of global catastrophe including global climate change or threats from new technological developments such as nanotechnology.
At www.dystopiantimes.com the Apocalypse Clock, looks at something a little bit different. We aren’t looking necessary at some major global disaster; although we include those as well, but what we are looking at is the likelihood that society as we now know it will disintegrate into disorder creating a dystopian time. The clock is a simple device; the closer to midnight, the more likely an event or events are to occur to send us into a dystopian spiral. We see a large number of possibilities for this to happen, not just the standard apocalyptic event. Of course if we are to have a nuclear war with the Russians, a global outbreak of a vicious disease like Ebola or H5N1, a comet strike from outer space in New York or another world war then dystopian times are likely to occur. However there are more subtle ways into which we may fall into dystopian times.
Many of the more subtle ways that society can collapse come from a series of dominoes falling and tipping each other over. For example, were a nuclear war to erupt between India and Pakistan, an event that at times has been close to occurring, this could trigger a number of other dominoes. The fallout from the war could spread into China causing large-scale health issues across the country. This in turn could cause a massive slow down in the Chinese economy, without a strong Chinese economy the US would have few options to sell its debt and there would be a serious impact to trade balance as one of our major markets would be depressed. This significant drop in the US economy could trigger a world-wide depression.
More likely what could trigger dystopian times are a series of unrelated events. For instance a combination of a terrorist event in Saudi Arabia significantly disrupting oil production, in combination with a major hurricane in the Southeastern Coast of the United States and a regional conflict breaking out between Israel and Egypt could have a negative synergistic effect upon each other and drive the world into a global crisis that could lead to the dissolution of society as we know it.
The point of the Apocalypse Clock is to gauge how close we are to one of these type of events. For reference, the clock typically sits at 11:55 which represents the typical stresses occurring in our world at any given time. Unrest in the Baltics, tension between Iran and Israel and Iran and the West, and the ever-present threat of a significant terrorist event utilizing a nuclear weapon are all current tensions on our society. As tensions increase on the world the clock creeps toward midnight, so our goal at the Dystopian Times is to keep you posted on the events in the world that impact the clock at http://www.dystopiantimes.com/apocalypse-clock
