(Eva Hambach/AFP via Getty Images)
Most adults have probably heard of the Doomsday Clock. It was created by the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, America’s atomic bomb-building project during World War II and is used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to register existential threat levels and raise awareness of them.
Today the clock’s minute hand was moved to a mere 100 seconds before midnight, the closest it’s been to our metaphoric annihilation since it was introduced in 1947.
“The Doomsday Clock is a globally recognized indicator of the vulnerability of our existence,” said former Irish President Mary Robinson at the annual clock-unveiling ceremony. “It’s a striking metaphor for the precarious state of the world, but most frighteningly, it’s a metaphor backed by rigorous scientific scrutiny.”
NPR has more on the story.
Let’s hope the mounting evidence will give science deniers a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) that makes them change their thinking. It’s going to take all of us to save this rock we call home.
this is terrifying
The world has become a pretty scary place, for many reasons. Or maybe I’m just more aware these days because I’m not all tired up with more immediate issues like work, family, kids, etc.
Unfortunately, I think few are going to think much about this because nuclear weapons have been a reality for so long. It’s certainly not like when they were new and were being tested in the atmosphere in the desert southwest and the Pacific ocean. I remember that time well. The fusion warheads were immensely more powerful than the two dropped on Japan. But, the scientists are right to move the clock forward, mainly because there are now two unstable, impetuous men who can push their nuclear buttons, Trump and Kim. Of the two, Trump may be the more dangerous because he thinks he is the “chosen one” and has pronounced himself above oversight of Congress.
I couldn’t agree more. Trump has frightened me since the day he was elected.