Enlarge image
Researchers at the unveiling of the doomsday clock
Photo: Thomas Gaulkin / Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
For the third year in a row, leading scientists have let the hands of the so-called “doomsday clock” stand symbolically at 100 seconds before midnight.
There were glimmers of hope last year, according to the organizers, the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" on Thursday in Washington - "but the decision in no way means that the international security situation has stabilized.
On the contrary, the clock remains as close as ever to an apocalypse that would mean the end of humanity as the world remains mired in an extremely dangerous moment.«
In 2018 and 2019, the clock used by researchers to draw attention to the dangers to humanity and the planet showed two minutes to twelve.
In 2020, the clock was symbolically put forward to 100 seconds before midnight for the first time.
The danger of mankind wiping itself out through nuclear war or climate change is greater than it has been since the invention of the clock in 1947, the scientists had said in justification.
"The doomsday clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us of how much work is needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet," said organization president Rachel Bronson.
"We need to push the clock hands farther from midnight."
Currently, you have to show in seconds and not in hours or minutes how close the world is to a catastrophe.
In addition to the coronavirus pandemic, the scientists see the possibility of a nuclear war, climate change and digital misinformation as particularly dangerous factors.
The so-called doomsday clock is intended to visualize dangers for the earth and humanity.
Depending on how the makers assess the global dangers and whether they are increasing or decreasing, the clock is advanced or put back.
The world was furthest away from self-destruction in the past decades in 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War.
At that time the clock showed 17 minutes to twelve.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is an organization that publishes a journal of the same name that was founded in 1945 by physicist Albert Einstein and scientists from the University of Chicago.
joe/dpa/AFP