Doomsday Clock

Until quite recenly I knew nothing about the Doomsday Clock . Never heard of it.

Apparently, this clock, set and maintained since 1947 by experts - atomic scientists actually-  measures nuclear risks, climate change, biological threats,  disruptive / inovative technologies (such as AI).

It's in fact a symbolic clock, an imperfect one, used more as a metaphor than a prediction;  still  - an important device which draws attention to existential threaths, and might show us how close we are, God Forbid,  to destruction.

Judging by most headlines, the world is a mess. Climate Change is doing its terrible work of heavy floodings, scorching fires, lava eruptions,  melting of ice, hurricanes etc.... Arms of all sorts are produced  and shipped to any part of the world for money.  Instability caused by political and social unrest,   leads everywhere to corruption,  wars, and terrorism.

I believe Humans won't be surprised if all the above might lead somehow, someday, to the extinction of the present world.   In the meantime,  they all play the  'elections game'. In many cases, elections are but a farce meant for the gullible- naive people. These elections won't change reality into something better.

On a more dangerous note, elections might lead to  civil war  and bloodshed  due to the diversity of the population, and activism of violent groups within it.

In ny country,  demographics plays a major role in the outcome of the elections. The people in power and their supporters whose majority's completely assured by demographics, are the least knowledgable, the least productive  people in the country, and yet they are the ones who get the state funds and make up the rules. How bad does that sound ? Very bad!

corruption (AI image generated)

Balagan

 

In  Hebrew, the word 'balagan' means mess, chaos, disorder.  There's controversy about the word's origin (Russia? Turkey?...), but I'm not going to go into this.

 It suffices to say that at my age I hate balagan. I can try and control 'balagan' at my home (not always successfully), but not the one outside it .

Since the last general elections we've got constant balagan: protests, strikes, violence (both verbal and physical). It's all too little and too late, as they say, and as I firmly believe - but, who wants to know...   

People constantly ignore things, they live each inside their own bubble, and then act as surprised.  No surprise here at all. As expected, 'demographics' won the elections.  So, all that remains to do is try to make 'a lemonade out of the lemon', IF possible.

One must add to the above political kind of balagan,  the fear caused by the recent earthquakes in the neighboring countries Turkey and Syria. We are not prepared for such a disaster , so blames regarding  apparently faulty structural condition of buildings, are already flying  over our heads, in all directions.

Actually, the big balagan started several years ago with the Light Rail works in major cities -  Jerusalem and Tel Aviv first. The Light Rail has lots of benefits, but I pity those who live close to the stations and rails during long periods of work to be done. What a mess! 

They'll tell you it's all worthy as it raises house value on the market. Maybe, maybe not. In the meantime, one lives near a considerable balagan, and that's hardly quality living. If you've got kids, it could also be dangerous to live close to road /rail works.

Anyway, there seems to be no 'responsible adult' around, so things look  rather bad.

Times Have Changed

 

It once used to be solely a matter of raising the salary, with or without a preceding strike. Not anymore. Workers have additional (justified) demands; they refuse to put up with violence in schools, in hospitals, on buses etc.. They demand besides anti-violence measures,  better working conditions, especially less working hours, decent recreation facilities. Teachers, medical personnel, drivers, threaten to desert their working place if their demands are not met.

Demographics is growing at quite an alarming pace in certain circles in our country. I believe increase in demographics, causes crowdedness which in turn brings about violence . It also has a bad impact on the country's economic ability.

Politicians are not capable of dealing with this issue; in fact with any serious issue, and poor governance prevails. The approaching general elections won't solve a thing;just the usual waste of time and money.

Workers (inclusive teachers and doctors)  are not as professional as it used to be in the past when standards required were much higher. Moreover,  few or no digital 'toys' were available then. Now wherever one looks, at any hour of the day - people  are 'glued'  to their smartphone and tablet. Work can wait, service can wait. 

Well,  we can't give up  digital 'toys',can we;  just as we can't  give up polluting  cars - so what's to be done? Not much...