Amid growing concerns about the use of nuclear weapons and ongoing global climate change, the hands of the symbolic “Doomsday” clock have been moved by scientists another 30 seconds closer to midnight. The clock now shows 23:58. The announcement was made in Washington, DC at the National Press Club.
“Because of the extreme danger of the present moment, the Science and Security Council is moving the hands of the Doomsday clock 30 seconds closer to disaster. Judgment Day is now closer than ever, as it never was even in 1953, at the height of the Cold War,”said Rachel Bronson, president of the Nuclear Research Bulletin.
Lawrence Krauss (left), Project Director of Origins State State University, and Robert Rosner (right), professor at the University of Chicago announce that they have adjusted the so-called Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight. (Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo, EPA-EFE. Washington, DC, January 25, 2018).
Each year, the Nuclear Research Bulletin, a non-profit group of scientists of 15 Nobel laureates, decides: Have the events of last year brought humanity closer to the Apocalypse? Based on this decision, scientists move the hands of the symbolic clock.
The closest doomsday clock to midnight was in 1953, when the first hydrogen bomb was tested. They showed 23:58 as today.
“We made a clear statement about what we are seeing, that the world is becoming more dangerous,” said Lawrence Krauss, Chairman of the Bulletin Board of Sponsors and Director of the Origins State University Project? "Moreover, the danger of a nuclear fire is far from the only reason the clock has been pushed forward."
Further, scientists from the Bulletin of Nuclear Research listed a whole package of threats: from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential danger of using nuclear weapons as the main reasons that brought the arrows closer to the midnight of the End of the World.
The statement explaining the Doomsday time reset notes:
Promotional video:
“In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world more dangerous than a year ago. This is the first time such a danger looms over the world since the end of World War II.
“Last year the greatest risks arose in the nuclear sector. North Korea's missile and nuclear programs made significant progress in 2017, increasing risks for both the United States and other countries in the region. At the same time, threatening hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions on both sides further increase the likelihood of a nuclear war starting by a simple mistake or unintentional accident."
“Today the nuclear threat seems to us the most important and immediate, but in the long term, against the background of the threat of global climate change, even the nuclear threat fades into the background….”