“Doomsday Clock”: According to nuclear researchers, the danger that humanity will self

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“Doomsday Clock”: According to the researchers, nuclear wars, climate change and fake news are the greatest threats

Photo: Thomas Gaulkin / Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

This year, leading scientists symbolically left the hands of the so-called »doomsday clock« at 100 seconds before midnight.

"The pandemic has shown how unprepared and unwilling the countries of the world and the international system are when it comes to tackling global emergencies properly," said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

It was safest in 1991

In 2018 and 2019 the clock showed 2 minutes to 12 noon.

In 2020, the scientists symbolically set the clock to 100 seconds before midnight for the first time.

The danger that mankind will extinguish itself through nuclear war or climate change is greater than it has been since the invention of the clock in 1947, it was said to justify.

That is why it must now be shown in seconds - and no longer in hours or minutes - how close the world is to a catastrophe.

In addition to the coronavirus pandemic, the scientists see the possibility of nuclear war, climate change and false digital information as particularly dangerous factors.

The »doomsday clock« is intended to visualize dangers for the earth and the continued existence of mankind.

Depending on whether, in the opinion of its makers, the global dangers are increasing or decreasing, the clock is set forward or backward.

The world was furthest away from self-destruction in the past few decades in 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War.

At that time the clock showed 17 minutes to twelve.

Icon: The mirror

koe / dpa