The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947 by atomic scientists as a way to keep track of the nuclear threat, is ticking closer to midnight. And… it’s no longer solely about nukes. “It’s 89 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the world has ever been to midnight,” said Daniel Holtz, chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a watchdog media group, announcing the annual progress of the Doomsday Clock in late January. “
“We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see sufficient positive progress on the global challenges we face, including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technologies,” he added.
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by the Chicago Atomic Scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to design the world’s first atomic bomb. The clock originally focused on the global nuclear threat posed by the Cold War.
The idea is that the closer the hands on the clock get to midnight, the closer humanity comes to annihilating itself and the planet.
The Clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight back in ‘47 and has been reset 26 times over the past 78 years. Factors now include pandemics, climate change, potential misuse of biological science and other disruptive technologies and the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
In 2023, the Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight where it remained in 2024. But, last year, something emerged that the Bulletin scientists consider a potent threat multiplier, said Holz. “The spread of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood.”
Recent political developments including the U.S. withdrawal from both the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization have also raised the stakes… as has President Trump’s interest in resuming nuclear weapons testing. Manheet Sethi, a member of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, said the United States could set a dangerous precedent. “I'm hoping that wisdom will prevail and that we will not open this Pandora's Box once again because if the U.S. was to set the fashion on the nuclear testing street, then there's every likelihood that other nations will also follow suit,” she warned.
Holz said that 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the US bombing of Hiroshima. He also mentioned the relevance of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize that went to Nihon Hidankyo, a group of Japanese Hibakusha or atomic survivors. “There is this sense that the world is sort of forgetting the horrors of nuclear weapons,” he explained.
There's this presumption that [it’s] in the past and that it's no longer a concern, and I think many people around the world are worried because these weapons still exist. They're still poised to annihilate the planet in a matter of minutes, 30 minutes, and so, that threat is not in the past. It's ever present, and I think the Nobel Award was to remind us and to kind of draw the world's attention to this.
The scientists urged the public to pay attention to what leaders are doing about the nuclear arms race, the nation’s energy needs, and tech companies. Herb Lin, cyber policy expert and member of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, added that tech giants are no longer taking their ethical responsibilities seriously.
“The result is they leave citizens around the world vulnerable to misinformation - AI driven and otherwise - that will inevitably cheapen public discourse, “he warned. “The resulting erosion in truth, in real science-based information will threaten our ability to address crises such as nuclear war, climate change, pandemics, and the like.”
Holz added that hoping for miracles is not a good strategy.
You can find a video recording of the Doomsday Clock announcement, the history of nuclear weapons and more about the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by clicking here.
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