90 seconds to midnight: Doomsday Clock: The world has never been so close to its end

90 seconds to midnight
Doomsday Clock: The world has never been so close to its end

The doomsday clock is intended to symbolically represent how close humanity is to its end. According to scientists from the organization “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” it is now 90 seconds before midnight. The main reason why it is advancing again is Russian threatening gestures in the Ukraine war.

The so-called doomsday clock, which researchers use to draw attention to the dangers to humanity, has advanced to 90 seconds before midnight because of the Ukraine war – as far as never before. Compared to last year, the symbolic clock is ten seconds closer to midnight, according to the organization “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists”. The scientists justified this primarily with “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of a nuclear escalation”.

“Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons are a reminder to the world that escalation of the conflict – by accident, by design or miscalculation – is a terrible risk,” the organization said. “The possibility of the conflict spiraling out of control remains high.”

The organization also points to “persistent threats from the climate crisis” and a “collapse of global norms and institutions needed to mitigate risks related to advancing technologies and biological threats like Covid-19.”

Scientists hope for dialogue in Ukraine war

“We live in a time of unprecedented peril, and the doomsday clock reflects that reality,” said Bulletin editor Rachel Bronson. The experts would not have taken the decision lightly to bring the clock hands closer to midnight than ever before. Referring to the Ukraine war, Bronson said the US government, its NATO allies and Ukraine have “numerous channels for dialogue.” Those responsible would have to use all these channels “to turn back the clock”.

The Doomsday Clock had advanced to 100 seconds before midnight in 2020, closer to midnight than ever before. In the following two years the clock remained unchanged. The decision as to what time the hands of the doomsday clock are set to each year is made by board members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – an organization that publishes an eponymous journal founded in 1945 by physicist Albert Einstein and scientists from the University of Chicago had been. In 1947, the year it was founded, the clock was set at seven minutes to midnight. After the end of the Cold War, researchers set the hands to the farthest time before midnight: 11:43 p.m., which is 17 minutes to midnight.

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