The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that the
“Make no mistake: resetting the Clock at 90 seconds to midnight is not an indication that the world is stable. Quite the opposite,” said Rachel Bronson, PhD, president and CEO of the Bulletin, in a
This year’s announcement is not a surprise. A lack of commitment to tackling the unfolding climate crisis resulting in
The Bulletin also listed the deterioration of agreements to reduce nuclear weapons and the threat of biological weapons as a major threat, as well as the continued spread of misinformation on the internet, stoked by politicians, media, and pundits. The unregulated development of cyber technologies that might exacerbate the problem adds to the current concern about the future of humanity.
Why Does The Doomsday Clock Move?
The clock is moved based on the opinions and expertise of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Since 1947, the Doomsday Clock has represented the ability of human-made threats to lead to our extinction. It’s not surprising it was established at the dawn of the Cold War, when the US and the USSR raced to build as many nuclear weapons as possible.
An atomic war today, as then, would certainly spell doom; even a relatively small conflict fought with nuclear weapons could kill
In 1947, the clock was initially set at 7 minutes to midnight. The furthest from midnight it has ever been set was in 1991, following the easing of tensions between the former Soviet Union and the United States, the reunification of Germany, and the signing of the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It was set at 11:43 pm – 17 minutes to midnight.
So, what are the criteria the Bulletin members must ask themselves to make their decisions? They must answer just two questions: is humanity safer than last year, and is humanity safer than it has been over the last 76 years from human-made threats?
It has been set at less than two minutes to midnight for the last several years, reaching the
“For decades, scientists have been warning us of the dangers facing humankind,” Bill Nye, who participated in the 2024 Doomsday Clock announcement, said. “We could be facing catastrophe unless we better manage the technologies we’ve created. It’s time to act.”