The Doomsday Clock has been set to 89 seconds, the closest point it has ever been to catastrophe.
As per The New York Post, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updates the clock to reflect how close humanity is to causing its own destruction, often due to threats like nuclear war, climate change or other major risks.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer and scientists from the University of Chicago who played a key role in creating the first atomic bombs as part of the Manhattan Project.
In 1947, the Bulletin created the Doomsday Clock as a symbol to represent how close humanity is to self-destruction and at that time it was set to 7 minutes before midnight.
For setting the time this year, several global dangers were taken into account.
These included the spread of nuclear weapons, advances in technologies like artificial intelligence, ongoing conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war and the Israel-Hezbollah conflict as well as risks from biological threats and the climate crisis.
Daniel Holz said, “Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.”
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issued a statement regarding moving the clock one second closer to midnight, noting, "In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course.”
To note, the clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight last year.
