The end is nigh

Tim Blair links to a recent scientific report which uses the familiar metaphor of the history of our planet, scaled to the compass of a 24-hour clock, to remind us just how far gone we are in our death spiral to cinderdom. While such metaphors are arresting, the sense of illumination they provide is brief and illusory.

I'm reminded of the old joke: two astrophysicists are sitting on a bus, chatting about the eventual collapse of the solar system - "Sun becomes a red giant, in about twenty billion years, expands to engulf the inner planets, earth is vaporised, sun contracts to become a cold dead rock, etc., etc." At this point, a man sitting in the seat behind them, who has overheard this conversation, reaches forward, ashen faced with fear: "Wh-what did you say?" "Well", replies one of the scientists, "we were talking about the end of the solar system in about twenty billion years."

The man falls back in his seat with a gasp of relief: "Phew! For a minute there I thought you said twenty million."