Doomsday Clock Update set for Tuesday
The annual update of the Doomsday Clock by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is set for Tuesday, with the clock currently set at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it’s been yet to global catastrophe.
Last year, the Science and Security Board of the bulletin moved it to 90 seconds because of concern that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. While that did not materialize, it still remains a significant risk. In addition, last year’s climate disasters and record heat could have an impact. The world is largely expected this year to crash through a heat threshold of global temperature set a decade ago by governments of 1.5 degrees Celsius above the average temp of the industrial age.
Scientists from the bulletin, which was founded by Albert Einstein and one of whose first leaders was Robert Oppenheimer, have begun to incorporate climate change more into their primary concerns in recent years, along with new types of technology such as AI. A mix of concern about AI, climate, and nuclear is expected to feature in the announcement, which comes at 10 am EST Tuesday morning.
Doomsday Clock – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (thebulletin.org)
