The Doomsday Hour is the closest it has been to the end in 76 years.. What does that mean?

Weather of Arabia - The decision of the Science and Security Council of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced on Tuesday evening (January 24), moving the hands of the "resurrection clock", at 90 seconds before midnight, raised widespread concern about humanity's approaching the danger of horrific annihilation, as the hour is now at its earliest From the end, since it was revealed 76 years ago.

What is the hour of resurrection? And why did it become closer to zero hour?

What is the doomsday hour?

The "Doomsday Clock" is a symbolic clock created by scientists in 1945, as part of the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" plan, which, in addition to the clock, includes other scientific services, with the aim of predicting how close humanity will be to horrific annihilation, and it was revealed for the first time at the beginning of the war cold year 1947 by the Council on Science and Security of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which includes 11 scientists from the Nobel Prize laureates, and is based in the American city of Chicago.

Why is the Doomsday Clock closer to the end?

Scientists make a decision whether or not to move the hands of the "Doomsday Clock" based on indicators of an improvement in the world's situation in the face of the dangers that threaten humanity, the most important of which are nuclear and climatic dangers.

The clock is now close to its end, since it was first revealed in 1947, after the scientists of the Bulletin made this decision due to the new changes that occurred in the world, such as the Russian-Ukrainian war, biological threats, the spread of nuclear weapons, and the ongoing climate crisis.

The climate crisis has been included among the threats to humanity, due to the effects and consequences that bring about turning points from which humanity cannot return. And we may not feel these effects until years later, when it will be very difficult - if possible - to recover from them.

What are the changes that occurred to the timing of the Doomsday Clock throughout history?

This marks the 25th move of the clock back and forth over the course of 76 years, in which the Council first set the Doomsday Clock at 7 minutes before midnight, to determine how close the world came to human annihilation.

(Changes to the Doomsday Clock since its inception, as the clock has been set backward eight times and forward 17 times for a total of 25, the furthest from midnight is 17 minutes in 1991, and the nearest is 90 seconds on January 24, 2023)

And just 4 months after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was published, which two years later turned from a print newsletter into a magazine, and landscape artist Martel Langsdorff designed the first doomsday clock for the cover of the new magazine.

In 1949, the editor of the Bulletin moved the clock from 7 to 3 minutes to midnight, after the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapons.

In 1953, the clock moved to two minutes before midnight, after the United States and the Soviet Union detonated the first thermonuclear weapons, the closest time to midnight on this watch in the twentieth century.

The farthest time the clock was set at was 17 minutes before midnight, in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Recently, the clock has been updated to include additional threats beyond just nuclear power, such as climate change threats, biological threats and pandemics, as well as others that push us ever closer to extinction.

Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Council annually adjust the time to reflect on whether the events of the previous year have brought humanity closer or further from destruction, drawing on a database of more than 100 predictions to assess the risks.

In conclusion, we affirm that changing the timing of the clock does not aim to cause panic in the world, but rather to motivate action and take quick action to save humanity, and for the newly emerged existential threats to be a reason for rapid action, amid the alarming situation of the continued failure of decision-makers to rise to the level of the challenge!