Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, second from left, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists member Robert Socolow, second from right, reveal the Doomsday Clock, set at 89 seconds to midnight, as fellow members Herbert Lin, left, and Suzet McKinney, right, watch during a news conference at the United States Institute of Peace, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Washington.
Earth is moving closer to destruction, a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its famous “Doomsday Clock” to 89 seconds till midnight, the closest it has ever been.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists made the annual announcement — which rates how close humanity is from ending — citing threats that include climate change, proliferation of nuclear weapons, instability in the Middle East, the threat of pandemics and incorporation of artificial intelligence in military operations.
The clock had stood at 90 seconds to midnight for the past two years and “when you are at this precipice, the one thing you don’t want to do is take a step forward,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group said it’s concerned about cooperation between countries such as North Korea, Russia and China in developing nuclear programs. Russia President Vladimir Putin has also talked about using nuclear weapons in his war against Ukraine.
“A lot of the rhetoric is very disturbing,” Holz said. “There is this growing sense that … some nation might end up using nuclear weapons, and that’s terrifying.”
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity. After the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
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1 thought on “‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight amid threats of climate change, nuclear war, pandemics, AI – Associated Press”
We have no global warming (or cooling) caused by our industrial production using fossil fuels for power. First, CO2 makes up 1/40th of “one” percent of our atmosphere. And all plant matter needs CO2 to thrive and currently it is too low for plantlife. Second, these gloom-doomers ignore nuclear reactors that are CO2 free and can be the lowest cost producers of electricity of all. France has 70% of its power from efficient nuclear reactors who are all the same; like Fords coming off the assembly line. They even sell power to other countries.
The climate of earth is dependent on our sun and our sun has cycles, periods of higher output. Those cycles give us cycles of weather going back millions of years. Those pushing global warming-climate change are pushing a one world government they control. That government would produce a Cuba or Russia or more likely a Communist China world with leaders seeking-holding power.
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