According to a group of scientists, humanity is dangerously close to a disaster, saying the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with increasing threats of climate change and nuclear weapons, is pushing civilization near a human apocalypse.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced Wednesday that its symbolic Doomsday Clock will remain at 100 seconds until midnight, the same time it has been set for at least a year. Although the hands of the clock are unchanged from 2020, the environment is still the closest to the symbolic downfall in the 70 years of its existence.
The clock does not function as a prediction of disaster, but rather represents humanity’s supposed proximity to man-made disasters. The Bulletin has maintained the Doomsday Clock since 1947, and it has become a stark visual metaphor since it was introduced during the Cold War, when the clock was set at seven minutes to midnight.
Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, said the coronavirus pandemic functioned as a ‘historic wake-up call’, revealing how unprepared many governments and international organizations are to face complex and dangerous challenges. offer.
“We at the Bulletin believe that because we cause these threats, we can control them,” Bronson said in a newsletter Wednesday. “But it is not easy and it has never been so. It requires serious work and global involvement at all levels of society.”
Last year’s update, which came before the coronavirus spread to every continent in the world, set the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight. At the time, it was the closest to the symbolic downfall the clock ever was. Bulletin scientists now say they have adjusted the clock to reflect the effects of an ever-raging pandemic and looming threats of climate change, nuclear weapons and disruptive technologies.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945, is a non-profit organization that investigates global security issues related to science and technology. Each year, the group consults with a board of sponsors to analyze the world’s most pressing threats to determine where the Doomsday Clock’s hands should be set.
