The Doomsday Clock moves to 90 seconds to midnight, signaling more peril than ever
By: BILL CHAPPELL npr
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The Doomsday Clock moves to 90 seconds to midnight, signaling more peril than ever
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that it has moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight. From left,, Siegfried Hecker, Daniel Holz, Sharon Squassoni, Mary Robinson and Elbegdorj Tsakhia with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists remove a cloth covering the Doomsday Clock at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday. Patrick Semansky/AP
The world is closer to catastrophe than ever: the Doomsday Clock, the metaphorical measure of challenges to humanity, was reset to 90 seconds before midnight on Tuesday.
The science and security board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the move — the closest to widespread calamity humanity has ever been judged to be — was "largely, though not exclusively" due to the war in Ukraine.
The scientific body evaluates the clock each January. This is the first full update since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last February, triggering a war in Europe and a new flood of refugees.
The clock created a stir when it was set to 100 seconds to midnight in 2020, the first time the famous clock had gone down to seconds rather than minutes. At the time, the Bulletin's scientists said we were "at doom's doorstep." It remained at 100 seconds to midnight in 2021 and 2022 .
The scientists behind the Doomsday Clock use it to alert humanity to threats from within — the perils we face from our own technologies, particularly through nuclear war, global climate change and biotechnology.
Of the new update, Mary Robinson, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: "The Doomsday Clock is sounding an alarm for the whole of humanity. We are on the brink of a precipice. But our leaders are not acting at sufficient speed or scale to secure a peaceful and livable planet."
Much of Tuesday's announcement focused on Russia, and President Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons and his refusal to accept anything other than victory in Ukraine.
"Even if nuclear use is avoided in Ukraine," said Steve Fetter, dean of the graduate school and professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, "the war has challenged the nuclear order — the system of agreements and understandings that have been constructed over six decades to limit the dangers of nuclear weapons."
Fetter also noted that the U.S., Russia and China are working to modernize their arsenals.
The Chicago-based Bulletin was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. Over the years, its members have included dozens of Nobel laureates.
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I've lived a long life already and don't expect many more years, but I'm very concerned about my grandchildren. Not only is the world turning into shit, but their lives will be even more endangered by living in a country that experiences so much gun violence. God help them.
My great grandmother had similar feelings in the 50s because of WWII, Korea and beatniks.
Yes, but was it how she felt from her own experience and in her own mind, or was it indicated by groups of experts, like for example those contributing to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists? I can remember beatniks but I can't imagine their existence being a sign of world doom.
Actually, I recall the 1950s as being a really good time, which is why I've posted many times that I wish I could be beamed back to the early 1950s.
I grew up during the Cold War. I would have nightmares about the US and USSR throwing bombs at each other
Talk about doom and gloomers.
They must wake up every morning disappointed that the world hasn't come to an end; and that they were wrong yet again.
Of course they will have the world's shortest celebration if they are ever proven right.
The biggest concern I have is about Putin's mental health. As The Shadow says: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men."