The so-called Doomsday Clock, which employs a number of predictors to estimate the likelihood that humanity will go extinct, has had its time altered by scientists.
At a press briefing on Tuesday (Jan. 28), the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) moved the clock to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever come to foretelling a mass human catastrophe.
According to Newsweek, the SASB closely consults with their board of sponsors, which includes nine Nobel Laureates, before adjusting the hands on the Doomsday Clock each year in reaction to diverse geopolitical and natural events throughout the world.
The decision was influenced by a number of issues, including nations investing in nuclear weapons development, the absence of a well-thought-out strategy to address global warming, and the emergence of uncontrolled new developments in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and space exploration, according to board chair Daniel Holz.
According to Holz, the underlying problems are exacerbated by the growing dissemination of false information, disinformation, and conspiracy theories.
According to the organization’s website, “In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, the Science and Security Board sends a stark signal: 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.”
In January of 2024, the board adjusted the clock to 90 seconds before midnight, the closest it has been to the hour since its founding in 1947.
“The Doomsday Clock is about urgency, not fear,” Rachel Bronson, the Bulletin’s president and CEO, told Newsweek. The conversation highlights the fundamental problems that underlie that threat and the ways to counter them, while the design serves as a metaphor for how close we are to destroying our environment with harmful technology that we created ourselves.”
In other words, rather of attempting to represent the people’s perspective of reality, we update the clock to reflect the current state of the world in the hopes of influencing public perception to match that reality. We are aware that our choices may be contested because it is a symbol rather than a precise formula, and we hope that this will encourage further conversation around existential threat issues.
Taste of Country’s senior writer and editor is Sterling Whitaker. He covers Yellowstone and related exhibits like 1883 and 1923, and he concentrates on once-lebrity real estate. Whitaker is renowned for his in-depth interviews with country giants such as Don Henley, Rodney Crowell, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs, and others. He has also interviewed cast members such as Cole Hauser, Kelly Reilly, Sam Elliott, and Harrison Ford.
