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Doomsday Clock has good news for human race

Doomsday Clock turned back one minute to 11:54. Let's not mess this up.

Matt Hickey
With more than 15 years experience testing hardware (and being obsessed with it), Crave freelance writer Matt Hickey can tell the good gadgets from the great. He also has a keen eye for future technology trends. Matt has blogged for publications including TechCrunch, CrunchGear, and most recently, Gizmodo. Matt is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. E-mail Matt.
Matt Hickey

Congratulations, people of Earth. We've pushed back our mutual destruction by one metaphorical minute. On Thursday morning, members of the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists turned the minute hand on their Doomsday Clock back one minute to 11:54, or six minutes to midnight.

Well done, human race. TurnBacktheClock.org

This is a good thing, as we discussed Tuesday, since the clock is supposed to be a metaphor for human devastation. Ostensibly, the closer the hand gets to midnight the closer we are to total annihilation. Gaining a minute indicates that we as a people have collectively acted to delay our inevitable extinction in the past two years, since the hand was last moved. We weren't quite sure how it was going to go this time around.

It's a symbolic gesture, to be sure, but one that carries some weight. With the millions raised so far for victims of the devastating Haiti earthquake taken into account as well it may paint a picture of a positive coming decade. I hope we can keep this up.