ObjetDart
Well-known member
I think "crisis overload" is definitely a real phenomenon. I have been reading for decades now about how we are on the verge of one collapse or another. Yet somehow, so far things keep not collapsing, at least not in a way that noticeably affects my comfortable American middle class lifestyle. So as the years go by, I tend to get more and more blasé about each new prediction of doom.
Which isn't to say that I don't believe that the some of the current crises are real. For example I am personally quite convinced that human-caused climate change is real, and it is definitely going to bite us all in the ass, very hard, at some point. Only the timeline of the catastrophe is unclear.
The doomsday clock is just a metaphor that tries to illustrate one particular group's perception of the danger the world currently is in. The "3 minute" value has no useful absolute meaning, it's only meaningful when compared to past positions of the clock.
Mainstream media is definitely crisis-driven, the problem is they focus on the wrong "crises". e.g. if you believed cable news, ISIS is about to destroy the world. Which just distracts everyone from the real threats.
Which isn't to say that I don't believe that the some of the current crises are real. For example I am personally quite convinced that human-caused climate change is real, and it is definitely going to bite us all in the ass, very hard, at some point. Only the timeline of the catastrophe is unclear.
The doomsday clock is just a metaphor that tries to illustrate one particular group's perception of the danger the world currently is in. The "3 minute" value has no useful absolute meaning, it's only meaningful when compared to past positions of the clock.
Mainstream media is definitely crisis-driven, the problem is they focus on the wrong "crises". e.g. if you believed cable news, ISIS is about to destroy the world. Which just distracts everyone from the real threats.