The “doomsday clock”, which represents how near humanity is to global catastrophe, moved one minute closer to midnight on Tuesday. Since US President Donald Trump began his second term, worries about nuclear conflict, climate change, and common health have grown in importance.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the time during the Cold War, set the time at 89 hours to evening. This is the closest it has ever come. The next change occurred in 2022, when the time was set to 90 seconds after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 1947, the clock was initially set for evening.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated in a statement that” by setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark message: Because the earth is already dangerously close to the brink, even a single minute should be taken as an indication of serious danger and an unmistakable caution that every second of delay in reversing course increases the likelihood of international disaster.”
Factors included nuclear weapons threats, the climate crisis, biological threats, and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence ( AI ).
It said,” The United States, China, and Russia have the primary responsibility to take the earth back from the brink. The earth depends on fast action”.
” At 89 seconds to evening, the doom time stands closer to calamity than at any time in its history”, said Juan Manuel Santos, past president of Colombia and head of The Elders, a group of original world leaders.
At a press conference in Washington, he said,” The time speaks to the philosophical risks that confront us and the need for unity and strong authority to turn up its arms.”
” This is a bleak picture. But it is not yet irreversible”, he added.
What is Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock is a representation of how dangerous technological advances are making humanity vulnerable to international destruction. It shows the time remaining until “midnight”, representing hazard. The Bulletin of the Atomic Professionals adjusts the clock annually to warn the people and motivate behavior.
When it was first introduced in 1947, the day of the clock was determined by the risk of nuclear weapons, which according to Bulletin academics was the greatest threat to humanity. The Bulletin started taking into account the effects of climate change when setting the time in 2007 as well.
Following the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the clock was set at midnight on January 1, 1991, at 17 hours.
Concerns over International troubles
Trump has now altered the way of thinking about international cooperation a few days into his next term.
Santos applauded Trump’s determination to diplomacy with China and Russia. Trump has promised to negotiate with both sides to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine, which might lessen worries about the use of nuclear arms.
Santos argued, however, that the World Health Organization and the US’s departure from the Paris Agreement had raised global risks.
Another year of intense heat and natural tragedies have hit the earth. Santos warned that other nations does following the US in reducing their efforts to combat climate change. ” If the United States, the world’s largest economy, is not going to make an effort to reduce the carbon emissions, why does I”? he said.
Santos even mentioned the fading people recollection of Covid-19 and its results. ” We have to tell them what happened– and what will occur will be worse, according to all the experts”, he said.
AI: Risks and potential rewards
The Bulletin of the Atomic Professionals table, led by public health specialist Suzet McKinney, warned that natural weapons may be produced more easily through artificial intelligence.
We can’t cover our heads in the sand because nation-states all over the world and even our own state engage in practices that are sure to inspire renegade conduct and/or cripple our ability to stop the spread of infectious diseases, whether novel or not, she said.
The board’s chair, a physicist named Robert Socolow, believes that DeepSeek’s current acquisition had lower energy consumption in AI technology. He compared the recent improvements to silicon cards, which improved computing efficiency, to previous ones.
But, experts also urged caution that artificial intelligence might worsen misinformation.
” The spread of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, which degrade the communication ecosystem and exceedingly blur the line between truth and falsehood, is a dangerous threat multiplier,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the board.” All of these dangers are significantly exacerbated by a dangerous threat multiplier.
