It is 90 seconds to midnight and that means that humanity has never been so close to a planetary cataclysm: this was announced on Tuesday, citing in particular the war in Ukraine, the group of scientists that manages the apocalypse clock, which does not look time but the end of time.
The “Bulletin of Atomic Scientists”, in charge of this symbolic project since 1947, unveiled its new schedule at a press conference in Washington, intended to measure the imminence of a global catastrophe.
It has moved forward 10 seconds and is now 90 seconds minus midnight, drawing closer to midnight, the fateful hour that scientists hope will never be reached. This is a record since its creation. Since 2020, the clock has been 100 seconds from midnight.
“A Time of Unprecedented Peril”
“We’re moving the clock forward, and it’s the closest it’s ever been to midnight,” the band said when unveiling the new time, referring particularly, but “not exclusively,” to “the growing dangers of war in the Ukraine.” and “the increased risk of a nuclear escalation.”
“We live in a time of unprecedented danger, and the doomsday clock represents that reality,” said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Moving the schedule forward “is a decision our experts do not take lightly. The US government will turn back the clock,” he added.
That is why the expert group’s statement will be available in English, Russian and Ukrainian for the first time, he said.
Recurring “Delete Events”
In addition to the war in Ukraine and the nuclear danger, the scientists took into account “the continuing threats posed by the climate crisis” as well as the fact that “devastating events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, can no longer be considered as rare events that only happen once every hundred years.”
The panel also discussed disinformation and surveillance technologies.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and the scientists who worked on the “Manhattan” project, which produced the first atomic bomb. The group sets the new time each year.
The doomsday clock “is a symbol that measures how close we are to destroying the world with dangerous technologies that we ourselves have manufactured,” according to the scientists.
Originally, after World War II, the clock read 7 minutes minus midnight. In 1991, at the end of the Cold War, it was reduced to 17 minutes before midnight. In 1953, as well as in 2018 and 2019, it showed midnight minus 2
Source: BFM TV
