Till Doomsday

The Doomsday Clock was created by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It symbolizes how close we are to catastrophe; in a post-nuclear age, the best we can manage is 15 minutes to midnight. Those who wind the clock are set to move the minute hand today.

Scientists are as free as anyone to engage in political discourse (in free countries, anyway). And we certainly need good scientific information to make informed decisions. But really, do the people behind the clock have such special understanding that we need to treat their pronouncements with much more seriousness than what we'd hear in a corner bar? Stephen Hawking is a great source if I've got a question about theoretical physics, but I don't think I'd ask him who to vote for.