Jason Mendez's blog post.

With countless predictions since the dawn of humanity, the focus of the end has been one discussed in all walks of life. Through religions doctrine, and scientific research, it is agreed that the world will end at some point. The only issue is knowing when that day will come. If humans knew when the world was going to end, how would that change everything? That is the idea of the doomsday clock. A countdown until complete catastrophe. A definitive time when life comes to an end. The real issue is, what happens if humanity does know the time of death? Will complete chaos ensue, or will society keep on how it does until the bitter end? This is what the doomsday clock is all about.

Knowing when one is going to die is something that people say they wish to know, but seldom do. There are some people that have their own version of a doomsday clock, and they deal with it very differently, both based on the situation, and the environment they are subjected to. The first being looked at will be those people with a terminal illness, such as cancer. The second will be death row inmates. Both of these people are experiencing a very similar situation as the doomsday clock. A countdown until the very end. While the situation is different, these examples can give us the closest possibilities of what can happen.

Every day, people are told a vague time they will die in hospitals every day. Every day, people are told they have days, weeks, months, years, or decades to live, and like the causes, each situation is different. Found in this New York Times article; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/opinion/sunday/how-long-have-i-got-left.html, a man, whose job was to tell people they have cancer contracts it himself. He is forced to come to the reality that he himself will also die, and all he wants in the exact time. He is taken aback by the mere notion that he will still have a job. Once he learned that he will die, the idea that everything is futile already set in. The feelings of dread, and the preparations for death must begin. Saying goodbye, and finishing anything else that one needs. The reason for this is knowing the inevitability of it.

In 31 states, the death penalty is still very real. The time of death is told, and while it is not set in stone, it is still more concrete than a medical estimation. This, combined with the conditions of prison leads to something different among prisoners. Gizmodo’s article; http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-rare-psychological-disorder-that-only-affects-death-1650893993, tells of something known as “Death Row Syndrome”. As the time grows closer for the prisoners to be executed, they grow more and more insane. If the date changes, some have even been known to burst into tears, because they want to die. They have their entire mind focused on that moment. The death they have prepared for, and that has destroyed what little psyche they have left.