The so-called Doomsday Clock moved forward by four seconds on Tuesday after a year. The clock symbolically warns of how close humanity is to global destruction and is now only 85 seconds away from midnight. TASR writes about it according to AFP.
This year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the symbolic clock due to concerns about the outbreak of nuclear conflict, the effects of climate change and the spread of disinformation. She gave similar reasons a year ago, when she moved the clock forward by one second.
According to representatives of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia, China, the United States and other large countries are behaving more and more aggressively and nationalistic tendencies prevail in these countries. “Hard-won global agreements are crumbling, accelerating a winner-take-all superpower competition and undermining international cooperation critical to reducing the risks of nuclear war, climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, potential risks from artificial intelligence and other apocalyptic threats,” they stated.
The shift in hours is determined by the organization’s board, which consists of several experts from various industries, including eight Nobel Prize laureates. In its decision, the council warned of the risk of a nuclear arms race breaking out as the New Start treaty between the US and Russia, which limits their nuclear arsenal, expires next week. It also warned against the militarization of space in connection with the Golden Dome air defense system promoted by US President Donald Trump.
Council members also draw attention to record levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the spread of misinformation. “We are living through an information armageddon – a crisis of all crises – fueled by predatory and predatory technology that spreads lies faster than facts and profits from our division,” said Filipino investigative journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by physicists Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists from the University of Chicago involved in the development of the first atomic bomb. It also publishes a professional magazine with the same name. She created the Doomsday Clock two years later to inform the public about man-made threats to human existence and the planet. In 1947, humanity was seven minutes from midnight.
