“90 Seconds to Midnight”: Atomic scientists update the Doomsday Clock, bringing the world one step closer to nuclear Armageddon

Ninety seconds to midnight is the closest the hands of the Doomsday Clock have ever gotten to the day of nuclear Armageddon, or “Doomsday.” The possibility of a new nuclear weapons race, the conflict in Ukraine, and climate change, according to scientists, is what caused them to move their hands on the clock.

One of the explanations given by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was Israel’s Gaza assault, which was equipped with nuclear weapons.

The president and CEO of the Bulletin, Rachel Bronson, was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying, “Disruptive technologies like AI and biological research advance faster than their safeguards, conflict hot spots around the world carry the threat of nuclear escalation, and climate change is already causing death and destruction.”

The experts voiced their worries about the US, China, and Russia spending enormous amounts of money to build and modernize their nuclear arsenals, adding to the “always present danger of nuclear war through mistake or miscalculation.”

They also voiced worry about the lack of action being taken to combat climate change and the need to evaluate the hazards associated with “misusing” artificial intelligence (AI) and new biological technologies.

In 1947, J Robert Oppenheimer and other American scientists created the clock. Each of them contributed to the creation of the atomic bomb.

The clock was designed to alert people and put pressure on world leaders to make sure nuclear weapons were never used again.

“A long-term resolution to Russia’s struggle in Ukraine seems improbable, and the potential of Russia using nuclear weapons in that fight still exists. Russia has given out a number of concerning nuclear signals over the last year, according to Bronson.

Israel’s activities are obviously pertinent to the Doomsday Clock debate since it is a nuclear state. The possibility that the battle would spread across the area, sparking a more extensive conventional war and attracting other nuclear or near-nuclear countries, is very concerning, the spokesperson said.

“With 2023 being the warmest year on record and rising global greenhouse gas emissions, the globe ventured into unknown territory. Bronson went on, “Antarctic sea ice achieved its lowest daily extent since the dawn of satellite data, and both global and North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures broke records.

In 2007, the inclusion of climate change as a consideration in clock setting was made. According to Bronson, efforts to mitigate climate change via greenhouse gas emission reduction are “grossly insufficient,” even in the face of $1.7 trillion in new investments in renewable energy.