Scientists move ‘doomsday clock’ one second closer to destruction

Scientists move ‘doomsday clock’ one second closer to destruction

The atomic scientists on Tuesday moved the “Doomsday Clock” one second forward, 89 seconds to midnight, which symbolises how near humanity is to destruction owing to Russian threats of nuclear attack in its war against Ukraine, military applications of artificial intelligence and climate change as some of the possible factors.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) chair Daniel Holz said that the latest move was “a warning to all world leaders”. The bulletin set the clock to 89 seconds before midnight, indicating a theoretical point of annihilation.

The Doomsday Clock was originally set at seven minutes to midnight in 1947 by the Chicago based non-profit BAS during the Cold War tensions that followed World War 2 to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in a statement on Tuesday said, “In setting the clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal. Conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning. Russia-Ukraine war could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation.”

The BAS further added, “Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster,” BBC reported.

BAS said that US, China and Russia have the collective power to destroy the world, and hence they carry the prime responsibility to bring back the world from the brink.