E-Paper
Doomsday Clock 2024 as close to midnight as ever: What scientists predict
Doomsday clock 2024: There is a “continuing unprecedented level of risk”, scientists predicting the future of the planet said revealing the countdown.
The Doomsday Clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight, experts predicting the likelihood of a global catastrophe said after 2023 saw war rage in Ukraine and the Middle East.
There is a “continuing unprecedented level of risk”, scientists predicting the future of the planet said revealing the countdown- a metaphor for global collapse agreed on by experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2023, the clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight which was the closest to global collapse it had ever been. Experts said that the change of 10 seconds was the due to the “mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine”. Since 2020, the clock had been at 100 seconds to midnight.
Russia's "thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons" indicated a "terrible risk" of conflict escalating, the bulletin said. It also pointed towards the focus on developing nuclear capabilities by China, North Korea, Iran and India while reflecting on climate crisis, bio-threats such as COVID-19, and disinformation and disruptive technology.
In 2020, "two simultaneous existential dangers of nuclear war and climate change" were cited as reasons for the change.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The experts had worked on the Manhattan Project to design and build the first atomic bomb and developed the clock to provide a simple way of showing the danger to the Earth and humanity.
