“Old beliefs have decayed and new beliefs have not sprung forward to replace them,” said an editorial in the November 30, 1978, “The Wall Street Journal.” It was reflecting on the mass suicides in Guyana. It continued:

“The scientists who invented the atomic bomb also started a magazine with a doomsday clock on the cover of every issue—a stunning testimony to their own guilt and a stunning symbol of their own doubt that science is good.