|
COURTESY OF THE BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS
|
|
By Glenn Oeland, Senior Editor, HISTORY and CULTURE
How close is humanity to destroying itself? Alarmingly close, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and other scientists who developed the first atomic weapons, the Bulletin created the symbolic Doomsday Clock two years later to convey the risk of an atomic Armageddon.
“The editors were afraid that the nuclear weapons they had helped create were not fully understood by either politicians or the public,” the Bulletin’s current editor, John Mecklin, told writer Bill Newcott, who reported our story on the clock’s 75th anniversary. “They wanted people to understand that these weapons could literally end civilization—and even, perhaps, the human species.”
Every year since the clock’s creation, the Bulletin’s experts have come together to gauge whether the world is safer or in greater peril, and to reset the time accordingly. Back in 1947, when the clock debuted on the cover of the Bulletin’s first bound issue, they set the time at seven minutes to midnight—midnight representing planetary apocalypse. Back then the scientist-editors “were concerned solely with the likelihood that atomic bombs would soon rain down on the world’s capitals,” Newcott writes.
Over the past 75 years, however, serious threats to our species’ survival have multiplied, and the clock’s timekeepers must now factor in such dangers as climate change, COVID-19, and disruptive technologies. As a result, for the past three years running, they’ve set the time at a mere 100 seconds to midnight (pictured above)—the closest the clock has ever been to Earth’s inglorious end.
What to do? The Bulletin offers a suggestion: Share stories on social media of actions people are taking to help #TurnBackTheClock.
Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, sign up here or forward this to a friend.
|
|
|
|
