100 seconds to go!

People tend to bank on technology saving humanity, but the fact of the matter is that technology, rather than changing the trajectory, just gets us to the endpoint of our journey faster.

"When a forest grows too wild a purging fire is inevitable and natural. Tomorrow, the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself. The movement back to harmony will be unstoppable this time."  - Ra's al Ghul

Metaphorically prescient, given that soon we'll witness a Senate acquittal which equates to a tacit admission, in no uncertain terms, that our entire democracy is and always has been a total, unequivocal sham. 

Personally, I've known that a long, long time.  It's pretty obvious that we are a thinly-veiled plutocratic empire.  In some ways it's heartening to see others finally waking up to that fact.  But I definitely know I don't want to be living within a collapsing empire, and recent events indicate that it is eroded faster than my wildest dreams.

Canada might not be far enough to flee.  Getting back onto the European continent is probably a better long term bet.

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/

"Continued corruption of the information ecosphere on which democracy and public decision making depend has heightened the nuclear and climate threats. In the last year, many governments used cyber-enabled disinformation campaigns to sow distrust in institutions and among nations, undermining domestic and international efforts to foster peace and protect the planet.

This situation—two major threats to human civilization, amplified by sophisticated, technology-propelled propaganda—would be serious enough if leaders around the world were focused on managing the danger and reducing the risk of catastrophe. Instead, over the last two years, we have seen influential leaders denigrate and discard the most effective methods for addressing complex threats—international agreements with strong verification regimes—in favor of their own narrow interests and domestic political gain. By undermining cooperative, science- and law-based approaches to managing the most urgent threats to humanity, these leaders have helped to create a situation that will, if unaddressed, lead to catastrophe, sooner rather than later.

Faced with this daunting threat landscape and a new willingness of political leaders to reject the negotiations and institutions that can protect civilization over the long term, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board today moves the Doomsday Clock 20 seconds closer to midnight—closer to apocalypse than ever. In so doing, board members are explicitly warning leaders and citizens around the world that the international security situation is now more dangerous than it has ever been, even at the height of the Cold War."