"Well, I'd be lying if I said I thought everyone was doomed," he says, amused and a little wry. Jim's optimism is of the bitterly stubborn brand, but it's optimistic all the same. That eternal on-brand human hold my beer sort of thing. "This is a hell of a thing, regardless of whether or not it's all true, and if all this can happen then there's virtually no limit to what else."

So who knows, really. He's seen weirder shit.