The Doomsday Clock has moved 10 seconds closer to midnight – the closest it has ever been to a global catastrophe.
But what does that really mean?
Although only a metaphor for the dangers facing humanity, the clock is being updated by those aware of a range of risks.
The countdown is approved by the experts of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
This year the the clock has moved forward because of the “increasing dangers of war in Ukraine“.
With the nuclear threat, political tensions, climate change and disease rising, experts believe this could be a defining moment in history.
The latest update describes 2023 as “a time of unprecedented danger”.
What is the Doomsday Clock and how is it set?
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – the creators of the clock – first launched the initiative in response to the threat of nuclear war in the 1940s.
After the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, Bulletin members felt the need to help the public understand the magnitude of the nuclear threat to existence. of humanity.
To date, the Bulletin’s Scientific and Safety Committee, made up of nuclear and climate experts, sets the clock time. The council has done so since 1973, when it succeeded Eugene Rabinowitch, editor of the Bulletin and disarmament campaigner.
The symbolism of the doomsday clock is powerful. If it were to strike midnight, it would mark the end of time and the theoretical point of annihilation for the human race.
The clock moves closer or further from midnight depending on how experts on the board, as well as academic colleagues and Bulletin sponsors – including 13 Nobel laureates – read the threats at any given time. in the world.
Read more:
Doomsday clock ticks closer to midnight as war in Ukraine rages on
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What did the scientists say?
The latest clock update is the most disastrous since its inception.
In a statement published Tuesday by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, its experts said: “RussiaThinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that the escalation of conflict by accident, intent or miscalculation is a terrible risk.”
The statement added: “The possibility that the conflict could spiral out of anyone’s control remains high.”
Scientists said the war has “increased the risk of the use of nuclear weapons, raised the specter of the use of biological and chemical weapons, crippled the global response to climate change and hampered international efforts to deal with other global concerns”.
The Bulletin’s warning continued: “The invasion and annexation of Ukrainian territory has also violated international norms in ways that may encourage others to take actions that challenge prior understandings and threaten stability. .
“At this time of unprecedented global danger, concerted action is needed, and every second counts.”
How have people reacted on social media?
The Doomsday Clock is not without its critics.
Some say it’s an arbitrary act of alarmism, disguised as a more specific warning.
As Derek Thompson wrote on Tuesday, “The Doomsday Clock is so absurd. How do news organizations still treat this false precision joke with any reverence? It’s as if meteorologists solemnly report and humorless Groundhog Day results.”
However, others were more supportive of the concept. Another Twitter user, @harryhagopian, said the new time made sense to him as he was “increasingly concerned” about global security.
The History of the Doomsday Clock
When it debuted in 1947, the clock was set to seven minutes to midnight.
Artist Martyl Langsdorf came up with the idea for the clock and set the time to symbolize the dangers of nuclear confrontation, on the cover of the Bulletin.
It has since died out as political, nuclear and climate change have continued over the years, with experts revising the time up and down – mostly closer to midnight and its metaphor of total disaster.
There have been more reassuring years, however. In 1995, the clock was at 14 minutes to midnight, the safest reading in its history.
And there have been “positive advances” in some years, such as the Paris climate agreement.
Since 1998, however, the clock hands have been less than 10 minutes before midnight.
In 2020, scientists moved the clock hands forward 100 seconds to midnight after the eruption of COVID-19[FEMALE[FEMININE
The clock remained at 100 seconds until its last announcement in 2023, bringing humanity 10 seconds closer to a “global catastrophe”, at least in the opinion of some scientists.
