Doomsday Clock depicting two minutes to midnight. Credit: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Rock n’ roll folklore is filled with songs that eventually became prophecy. One of these tunes is “2 Minutes to Midnight” by Iron Maiden. The heavy metal classic is from their 1984 album, Powerslave.
According to the Doomsday Clock, it is now officially two minutes to midnight. The Doomsday Clock was founded in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to chart the probability of a man-made global catastrophe. The clock can be moved forward or back based on world events. When the clock was first instituted it was seven minutes to midnight. Two minutes have been the closet it has gotten to striking midnight (it also hit that mark back in 1953). In 1984, the clock was at three minutes to midnight, due to ongoing concerns over the cold war between the US and Soviet Union and the ongoing nuclear arms race between those two superpowers.
In moving the clock to two minutes, the following reasons were cited: “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change.” Also one of the lyrics in the Iron Maiden tune which now resonates with the situation is “as the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song.” That line could easily apply to Trump’s twitter feed and his war of words with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
Part of the purpose of the Doomsday Clock is to serve as a wake up call. With positive and decisive action the clock can be moved back.