The Doomsday Clock was moved one second closer to midnight as nuclear experts warned that humanity was closer to annihilation than ever before.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists cited the growing risk of nuclear war, the failure to combat climate change and advances in artificial intelligence technology as the main reasons for the decision to set the clock at 89 seconds to midnight. The Bulletin announcement was joined by former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Juan Manuel Santos.
The Doomsday Clock stands closer to catastrophe than at any moment in its history. The Clock speaks to the existential threats that confront us and the need for unity and bold leadership to turn back its hands.
In a veiled reference to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board Chair Daniel Holz called “active conflicts involving nuclear powers” and the collapse of arms control treaties threats to humanity. Manhattan Project members originally set the clock at seven minutes to midnight in 1947.
The Clock was set back two minutes to midnight at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, and then was set back 17 minutes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Bulletin pushed the clock forward from 100 to 90 seconds to midnight in 2023 as war in Ukraine heightened fears of a global nuclear catastrophe.
