The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a non-technical magazine dedicated to informing scientists about the real world implications of scientific research and educating non-scientists about the dangers that human civilization currently faces. It began in 1945 in response to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two events which vividly demonstrate the catastrophic potential of scientific research and the need for policies to direct that research away from disastrous ends.
In 1947, the Bulletin launched its Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical clock that represents the best guess among concerned scientists as to how close humanity is to annihilation. While it originally focused only on the threat of nuclear war, it has in recent years come to reflect the combined risk of a number of dangerous developments, including climate change, genetic engineering, and lethal biological weapons. The clock is updated from time to time in response to positive or negative developments on the world stage and was most recently revised to indicate the threats that human civilization faces in the year 2013. The time on the clock is now 5 minutes to midnight (i.e. doomsday). The point is that unless profound and far-reaching action is urgently taken on problems such as climate change and nuclear proliferation, the prospects for humanity are very dim.
But as the global community marches toward the edge of the existential cliff, a good deal of creative energy is being spent on helping people find ever more ways to while away their remaining time in solipsistic bliss. Gizmodo, for instance, is reporting in all sincerity that JimmyJane’s new Hello Touch may be the best sex toy ever invented.
It will turn two of your fingers into natural vibrators that you can apply all over your body, inside and out…Unlike existing cheapo, crappy finger vibrators, the Hello Touch is extremely small and way more powerful—as powerful as a full vibrator. And while it may look awkward to you, it actually feels natural once you put it on—like a natural extension of your fingers. Cyborgsex.
And the condom company Trojan is also penetrating this fertile market in self-indulgence with its new line-up of 21st century vibrators, which apparently created quite a buzz at the recent CES 2013 according to PCMag.com.
Narcissism and self-indulgence are questionable at the best of times, but in the worst of times–in the world as we currently know it–this market in masturbation gadgetry, and its celebration in the tech-oriented media, represents a new low on the moral landscape.
