Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight

If this dramatic switch in politics has made you feel like the world is about to end, you’re not the only one. Doomsday Clock Closest To Midnight Since 1954, www.npr.org, (Jan. 28, 2017). Last week the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the “Doomsday Clock” a stroke closer to midnight. Id. Scientists use the clock as a way to visualize how close civilization is to complete destruction. Id. They base their determination at the state of politics, energy, weapons (threat of nuclear war), diplomacy, emerging technologies, and climate science. Id. For the past two years, time has stood still at three minutes to midnight, but last week it moved a half-minute closer. Id.

Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist at Arizona State University, and the chairman of the board, states that irresponsible statements from Trump and Putin regarding nuclear weapons is one of the major causes for the shift in time. Id. The move away from reducing nuclear weapons, and the discussion of increasing such weapons, is causing the United States to violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at disarming nuclear nations. Id.

The clock hasn’t been this close to midnight since 1953 when the Soviet Union first exploded a hydrogen bomb and the arms race began. Id. Krauss states, “In the lifetime of many of the people… the clock has never been closer.  And that certainly is a cause for concern.” Id.

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/512199345/doomsday-clock-closest-to-midnight-since-1954