Doomsday Clock Remains At 100 Seconds To Midnight

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has announced that the hands of the Doomsday Clock remain at 100 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to apocalypse, Louise Lerner reported for SciTechDaily.

Photo Insert: For the second year in a row, the Bulletin determined that not enough progress has been made to move the hands back.

The Bulletin meets every year to determine how much metaphorical time we have to avert catastrophe for humankind. Over the past 75 years, the hands of the clock have moved both backward and forward according to whether steps were taken to address potentially civilization-ending threats, such as climate change and nuclear war.

In 2020, the Bulletin set the hands of the clock at 100 seconds to midnight, moving them forward from two minutes. For the second year in a row, the organization determined that not enough progress has been made to move the hands back.

According to the Bulletin’s statement, the decision does not suggest that the situation has stabilized: “On the contrary, the Clock remains the closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment.”

“The Doomsday Clock is holding steady, but steady is not good news,” said Sharon Squassoni, professor at George Washington University and co-chair of the Bulletin board that sets the clock.

“We are stuck in a perilous moment—one that brings neither stability nor security. Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends.” In their decision, the Bulletin cited disinformation, global security threats including ‘nuclear saber rattling,’ lack of actionable climate policies, disruptive technology and insufficient worldwide COVID-19 response.

“There is no more time to waste,” said Bulletin board member and University of Oxford Prof. Raymond Pierrehumbert.

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