Doomsday Clock set to 100 seconds at midnight – dangerously close to disaster

Humanity is dangerously close to disaster, according to a group of scientists who said the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with growing threats from climate change and nuclear weapons, is pushing civilization close to a man-made apocalypse.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported on Wednesday that its symbolic Doomsday clock remains at 100 seconds at midnight, the same time it was set for at least a year. Although the hands of the clock are unchanged from 2020, the setting is still the closest the watch has been to symbolic disaster in the more than 70 years of its existence.

The clock does not function as a prediction of calamity, but rather represents humanity’s perceived proximity to a man-made disaster. The Bulletin has maintained the Doomsday clock since 1947, and it has become an austere visual metaphor since its launch during the Cold War, when the hands on the clock were set between seven minutes and midnight.

Rachel Bronson, CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, said the coronavirus pandemic has worked as a “historic wake-up call” and revealed how unprepared many governments and international organizations are to meet challenges complex and dangerous.

“At The Bulletin, we believe that because humans created these threats, we can control them,” Bronson said Wednesday at a press briefing. “But doing this is not easy and it never has been. It requires serious work and global commitment at all levels of society.”

Last year’s update, which came before the coronavirus spread to every continent in the world, set the end of the world clock to 100 seconds at midnight. At the time, it was the watch that came closest to symbolic catastrophe. Today, scientists at the Bulletin say they have adjusted the clock to reflect the consequences of a still raging pandemic and looming threats from climate change, nuclear weapons and disruptive technology.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945, is a nonprofit organization that examines 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 hands of the Doomsday clock should be placed.