The 'Doomsday Clock' ticks closer to midnight: Are we nearing the end?

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists revealed on January 28, 2025, that the symbolic 'Doomsday Clock' has been adjusted to 89 seconds before midnight, marking its nearest position ever.

“The point of the clock is to assess where humanity is, and whether we are safer or at greater risk,” according to Dr. Rachel Bronson, president and chief executive of the bulletin.

The group of scientists has been measuring real and existential threats to humankind through this symbol for more than 70 years. The clock went from 90 seconds to 89 in a year, but scientists said even with a single second extra, they are sending a “stark signal”,  according to the BBC.

"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," the scientists said.

The scientists said nuclear threats, potential misuses of advances in biology and artificial intelligence, as well as climate change, were the key factors pushing humanity to the brink.

The experts warn that the continuing war in Ukraine, now nearing a three-year mark since Russia's full-scale invasion, "could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation".

Moreover, "conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning," the scientists’ statement said, according to the BBC.

The panel of scientists also said that "the long-term prognosis for the world's attempts to deal with climate change remains poor, as most governments fail to enact the financing and policy initiatives necessary to halt global warming."

It also warned that "an array of other disruptive technologies advanced last year in ways that make the world more dangerous," citing AI used by military powers in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The scientists added that the US, China and Russia have “the collective power to destroy civilisation", adding that the three nations "have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink".

In a text released in 2002 by those responsible for the Doomsday clock, it is said: "When the Clock marks 100 seconds to midnight, we are all threatened. The moment is dangerous and unsustainable, and the time to act is now."

Image: Ryanicus Girraficus/ Commons Wikimedia

The Doomsday Clock was born in 1947 to measure the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. However, this calculation now includes threats such as climate change or pandemics.

They were scientists who participated in the so-called Manhattan Project (research to achieve the atomic bomb that began during World War II) who started the Doomsday Clock by verifying the annihilation capacity of the nuclear explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When the clock was set on time, back in 1947, there were seven minutes remaining until midnight, which symbolizes the end of the world.

The fall of the Berlin Wall induced optimism among atomic scientists who set the clock, and in 1991 it was 17 minutes after midnight, a record that has not been repeated.

However, that same year (1991), war broke out in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, and the dream of a world at peace was fading.

Anglo-Saxon pop culture abounds in references to the Doomsday Clock that marks the end of the world at twelve o'clock at night. 'Two minutes to midnight', an Iron Maiden song, is an example of it.

The Doomsday Clock is also represented at the beginning of the video clip for the song 'Russians' by Sting, popularized in 1985, when the Cold War was still making the planet tremble.

Among the supporters of this Doomsday Clock there are many who tend towards bitter pessimism. "What we learn from the Doomsday Clock is that our ability to deal with such crises is probably worse than ever," researcher SJ Beard wrote for the BBC in 2022.

Perhaps that is why there are those who believe that tools such as the Doomsday Clock, instead of raising awareness, demobilize: if the catastrophe is inevitable, it is better not to think about it.

Image: Elisa Ventur/Unsplash

In the Wikipedia entry referring to the Doomsday Clock there is an interesting quote critical of this device: "Alex Barasch in Slate argues that 'putting humanity on permanent and general high alert is not useful when it comes to politics or science'".

Image: Sincerely Media / Unsplash

The Doomsday Clock may foster a certain culture of fear that had its heyday in the Cold War and returned after the outbreak of disease, climate change and large-scale armed conflict that the 21st century has been grappling with.

In any case, the objective is peace, nuclear disarmament and the fight against the climate crisis.

Image: Alexandru Vicol/Unsplash

Betting on the future is a necessity and we can’t change it if we’re not aware of the problems that threaten it.

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