The world is 89 seconds from Revelation

Experts warn: climate change, nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence put us 89 seconds from the end. Urgent global action is necessary to avoid collapse

The world is closer than ever of apocalypse. This was the alarming assessment released on Tuesday (28) by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientistsa non-profit organization and publication whose iconic Judgment Clock has been estimated-in direct terms of “minutes to midnight”-how close humanity has been in annihilation since 1947.

The organization said it has moved the closest clock pointers of this feared day-90 seconds to midnight to 89 seconds to midnight. She cited the threats represented by nuclear weapons, climate change and the possible misuse of biological science and artificial intelligence – existential dangers that, according to the organization, were aggravated by disinformation, false information, and conspiracy theories.

“In adjusting the clock a second closer to midnight, we send a clear sign: Since the world is already dangerously close to the cliff, a single second movement should be seen as an extreme danger indicator and an unmistakable warning of That every second of delay in changing course increases the likelihood of a global disaster, ”the newsletter said in a statement.

The clock is adjusted by the organization’s Science and Security Council, consisting of experts in nuclear technology, global security, climate science and other fields. The clock was created in 1947, when the organization’s concerns revolved around the perspective of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. At the time, the clock was defined as seven minutes for midnight.

Since then, scientists behind the project have expanded their focus to consider other threats, such as climate change, infectious diseases, and disinformation spread by artificial intelligence. And the clock pointers moved back and forth. The last change was in January 2023, when the clock went from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds, mainly because of the war in Ukraine.

The clock became farther from midnight in 1991, after the United States and the Soviet Union signed the strategic weapon reduction treaty, designed to reduce their long-range nuclear weapons stocks. In response, the bulletin moved the clock for 17 minutes to midnight.

The clock did not change during the Cuba missile crisis in 1962 because “very little was known at the time about the circumstances of the impasse or what would be the result,” says the bulletin on his site.

Critics discarded the clock as a maneuver based on subjective evaluations. Others said their repeated warnings of total annihilation could end up being ignored by the public – the equivalent in public policies to the boy who shouted “wolf.”

But scientists who adjust the clock call it an internationally recognized symbol and “a reminder of the dangers we should face if we want to survive on the planet.”

“The purpose of the final judgment is to start a global conversation about the very real existential threats that keep the world’s leading scientists agreed at night,” said Daniel Holz, chairman of the Science and Security Council and founding director of the Existential Risk Laboratory from the University of Chicago.

This year, the newsletter said global leaders are failing to face growing threats to human survival.
He said the war in Ukraine, now in his third year, “could become nuclear at any time due to a hasty decision, an accident or a calculation error.” Warned that global nuclear weapons controls are “collapsing.”

And he stated that the impacts of climate change increased last year, which was almost certainly the hottest ever recorded. The growth of solar and wind energy, said the bulletin, “has been impressive, but is still insufficient to stabilize the climate.”

In a clear allusion to former President Donald Trump, the organization said: “Judging by recent election campaigns, climate change is seen as a low priority in the United States and many other countries.”

Trump has signed an executive order to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, the global pact to combat climate change as part of a series of actions to promote fossil fuels and remove support for renewable energy.

The bulletin also warned of the spread of aviary flu and said rapid advances in artificial intelligence “have increased the risk that terrorists or countries could acquire the ability to project biological weapons for which they do not exist.”

Despite the dark perspective, the newsletter said there is still an opportunity for the world to move away from the brink of collapse if countries – especially the United States, China and Russia – work more closely to combat climate change, disease, and other threats.

“There is still time to make the right choices to retrieve the late Judgment Clock hands,” said Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize at a press conference on Tuesday. “In Colombia, we say, ‘Every second account.’ Let’s use each one with wisdom. ”

By Michael Levenson to The New York Times