Society

Humanity has never been so close to destroying itself. At least that's according to nuclear scientists, according to the latest update to the Doomsday Clock. This year, the clock shows just 89 seconds before midnight. The longest time was 17 minutes before midnight in 1991. But now, therefore, we are getting closer and closer to the end of the world according to the organisation behind the Doomsday Clock.

The Doomsday Clock, a decades-old international symbol of the nonprofit Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, was last moved to midnight in 2023 because of the war in Ukraine, to 90 seconds before midnight, and this year it has been moved one second closer to the ultimate catastrophe for humanity. So reports the French news agency AFP.

Midnight on the Doomsday Clock represents a hypothetical global catastrophe, and every January the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists provides an analysis of how close the world is to this catastrophe, represented by the number of minutes or seconds to midnight.

The nuclear scientists, united in this nonprofit organization, make their assessment by monitoring man-made threats and focusing on three main hazard areas when setting the clock: nuclear risk, climate change and technology. Artificial intelligence is additionally a potential threat, which is why potential dangers from emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence were added to the list this year.

Former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, who was a special guest at this year's installation of the clock, called the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO) under the leadership of new President Donald Trump a step in the wrong direction for humanity.

“We moved the clock closer to midnight because we don't see enough positive progress on the global challenges we face,” said Daniel Holz, chairman of the Bulletin's Science and Security Committee.

(FVDV for Tagtik/Source: AFP - RTV SLO/Illustration picture: Pixabay)