Jan. 28 (UPI) — Due to “deeply concerning” world trends, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said its “Doomsday Clock” is now 89 seconds to midnight.
On Tuesday, the bulletin stated it is “the closest” the clock “has ever been to catastrophe” as it moved one second forward from 90 seconds to midnight at this time in 2024.
The group of atomic scientists said that in setting the clock one second closer to midnight, “we send a stark signal” that because the global community is “perilously close” as it is to a catastrophic 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 release stated.
“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,” the bulletin said.
It was revealed in Washington after a deliberation by the organization’s Security Board and Board of Sponsors which include the likes of nine Nobel Laureates.
Citing “ominous” trends in 2023 last year in January, it noted the symbolic clock at the time remained at 90 seconds before midnight.
Created in 1947 by Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Doomsday Clock” is known to be a public warning of the threat posed by nuclear weapons and other outside factors that signal how close humanity is to a potential global catastrophe with manmade technology.
It pointed to a myriad of issues like misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories that “degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood.”
And growing effects of global climate change, technological advancements like artificial intelligence, tense diplomatic relations and escalating war between Russia, Ukraine and in the Middle East “threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning.”
It added global greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change continued to rise but that its long-term prognosis “remains poor” as growth in the solar and wind energy sector has been “impressive but remains insufficient to stabilize the climate.”
Meanwhile, extreme weather events or a number of floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves, drought and wildfires have “affected every continent.”
“Judging from recent electoral campaigns, climate change is viewed as a low priority in the United States and many other countries,” according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
President Donald Trump recently ordered the United States to exit the World Health Organization as one of its nearly 200 member nations and halted federal funding to a number of critical health-related areas.
“In the biological arena, emerging and re-emerging diseases continue to threaten the economy, society and security of the world,” officials noted.
Pointing to a “battered information landscape,” the group said it’s “producing leaders who discount science and endeavor to suppress free speech and human rights,” which it added compromises fact-based public discussions “that are required to combat the enormous threats facing the world.”
The “fervent hope” of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is for leaders to “recognize the world’s existential predicament.”
They called for “bold action” to reduce what experts claim are existing threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the “potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies.”
