A science advocacy group pointed to its famous “Doomsday Clock” which shows 90 seconds till midnight amid impending “nuclear war” and a so-called “climate apocalypse.”
The Atomic Scientists made the annual announcement, warning humanity o how close it is to the precipice of doom and destruction.
The group cited a nuclear threat from Russia, the war between Israel and Hamas, climate chaos, and the danger of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Rachel Bronson, CEO of the Bulletin group, said:
“Last year, we expressed amplified concern by moving the clock to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.”
“The risks from last year continue with unabated veracity and continue to shape this year.”
The advocacy group has used the clock since 1947 to symbolize the potential of people doing something to end the existence of humanity.
Following the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight.
However, over the past few years, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The members are now considering new man-made risks such as AI and climate change and the threat of nuclear war.
In its recent announcement, the Bulletin said that China, Russia, and the U.S. were spending massive sums to “expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals,” adding to the “ever-present danger of nuclear war through mistake or miscalculation.”
It also added that the war in Ukraine created an “ever-present risk of nuclear escalation.”
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Fear, fear, fear…keep them in fear…
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Dealing with "Doomsday anxiety" during multiple global crises
The Doomsday Clock remained at 90 seconds to midnight on Tuesday, no closer to the metaphorical annihilation of humanity but also no further away, either. While the clock is… pic.twitter.com/SwbxSSEjt9
As CBS news noted:
“The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop atomic weapons for the Manhattan Project. They originally created the Doomsday clock two years later, in 1947, as a tool to represent the ways in which humanity’s actions and decisions put its own health and future at stake. Back then, they deemed the rise of nuclear weapons technology to be the world’s greatest threat, and the early versions of the clock portended potentially catastrophic consequences of a nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The clock was initially set at seven minutes to midnight, and has moved 25 times since then — at times closer to midnight, and at times farther from it, representing the possibility for people to make positive changes, in effect “turning back the clock.” Climate change has been a leading concern dictating the hands of the Doomsday clock since 2007.”
The description shared to the website for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reads:
“The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making.”
“It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.”
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