All posts tagged: apocalyptic

Stock Market Shrugs Off Trump’s Apocalyptic Threats Against Iran

Stock Market Shrugs Off Trump’s Apocalyptic Threats Against Iran

Published by Sam Flores

No matter. On Thursday, markets continued to soar. “It’s not a bull market or a bear market, it’s a Trump market,” says Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, though he adds there are signs that financial markets are “starting to call Trump’s bluff.” Traders are trapped, like all of us, in Trump’s world. It’s a bizarro twist on the “boy who cried wolf” dynamic, Armstrong says. “At what point do the villagers say, ‘This kid’s full of shit’ and he gets eaten by the wolf? Well, if the boy who cried wolf had the nuclear codes, the villagers would be forced to keep listening to him forever. The president is an office of terrible power, and that will never stop being true.” That’s made life difficult for the denizens of Wall Street, even as some cash in on the war-time volatility. “This is a trader’s wet dream,” says the Wall Street insider. “Volatility is really good if you’re a trader. I guarantee Goldman Sachs and all the trading desks are making money hand over fist.” “This is …

An Apocalyptic Zombie Novel for Subversive Millennials

An Apocalyptic Zombie Novel for Subversive Millennials

Published by José Betancourt

Severance by Ling Ma A send-up and takedown of corporate drudgery, late-stage capitalism, and adulthood listlessness familiar to so many of us, Ling Ma’s Severance serves up a wry and tense satire featuring an eerily monotonous pandemic. Candace Chen, a millennial publishing drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is so devoted to routine she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps across New York. But then it spreads beyond the city. Families flee. Companies hit pause. Subways squeak to a halt. In a heartbeat, Candace is uninfected but alone, wandering the streets to photograph the silent, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Even antisocial Candace can’t be content, much less survive, on her own forever. Enter a group of survivors led by power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers or cling to the only community …

Apocalyptic views are surprisingly common among Americans and predict responses to existential hazards

Apocalyptic views are surprisingly common among Americans and predict responses to existential hazards

Published by José Betancourt

Many people believe the world will soon end, and these apocalyptic views shape how they react to real global threats like climate change and artificial intelligence. A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reveals that these narratives dictate whether individuals want to prevent or ignore looming global crises. By mapping the specific features of these doomsday beliefs, researchers can predict public responses to the major hazards of our time. People from varying backgrounds hold ideas about the apocalypse. Some individuals expect a religious prophecy to unfold, while others anticipate an environmental collapse. To understand these perspectives, researchers must look at how humans evaluate danger. Risk perception is the psychological study of how people judge the severity of a hazard. Past research has examined how personal experiences or community standards influence these judgments. Yet, experts have rarely examined how deeply held convictions about the ultimate fate of humanity affect reactions to immediate crises. Historically, apocalyptic ideas were primarily religious, focusing on supernatural battles between good and evil. Today, these narratives also …