>

In fairness, the Russians and Americans were still relatively sane.  Enemies for sure, but sane.
I’m always surprised when the Doomsday Clock is referred to as if it’s something that actually exists and has real-world implications. It’s just Groundhog Day for cynics. >

And considering when it was first created in 1947, they set the time at 7 minutes to midnight. The scale is entirely meaningless. >

does the clock ever move backwards? >

Yep, it moves backwards all the time! >

Do you think it's an actual clock?
It doesn't count time. It's just a metaphor for the current state of the world. The number goes down when things get shitty. Happens a lot. >

So..it’s an equation? >

Not really, it's a non-profit group of scientists that move it to what they believe is an accurate assessment to their arbitrary clock time. I don't really put a lot of belief in it's accuracy since I really dont think we're a minute and a half closer, on this 17 minute at most clock, then we were when kids were practicing nuclear annihilation drills in elementary school. >

Note the cuban missile crisis: October 1962, the Bulletin's Doomsday Clock remained unchanged: It stood at 7 minutes to midnight and the following year, in 1963, the clock's hands moved to 12 minutes to midnight, when the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty went into effect