Mankind is closer to destruction than ever before, according to scientists, who have moved the official Doomsday Clock closer to midnight – its nearest ever point to the end of humanity. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has been calculating how close people are to being wiped out every year since 1947.
At the dawn of the nuclear age, and after World War Two, as the Cold War began, mankind was said to be seven minutes to midnight – the end of everything.
Now the BAS has moved the clock forward one second to 89 seconds to the end, thanks to nuclear threats, potential misuses of advances in biology and artificial intelligence, as well as climate change.Daniel Holz, chairman of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, said it was “a warning to all world leaders”.
In a statement, the organisation said: “In setting the clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal. Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.”
Scientists said the three-year old Ukraine war“could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation”.
They added:“Conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning.”
The panel said: “The long-term prognosis for the world’s attempts to deal with climate change remains poor, as most governments fail to enact the financing and policy initiatives necessary to halt global warming.”
And they added: “Emerging and re-emerging diseases continue to threaten the economy, society and security of the world,” saying: “An array of other disruptive technologies advanced last year in ways that make the world more dangerous.
“Systems that incorporate artificial intelligence in military targeting have been used in Ukraine and the Middle East, and several countries are moving to integrate artificial intelligence into their militaries.”
The statement said all the threats: “are greatly exacerbated by a potent threat multiplier: the spread of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood”.
The US, China and Russia, the BAS said, “have the collective power to destroy civilisation.”