Hands remain at 90 seconds to midnight on Doomsday clock

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says world leaders are keeping humanity on the path to Armageddon.

Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists stands next to the Doomsday Clock that reads ‘90 seconds to midnight’. Picture: Handout / Hastings Group Media / AFP

The Doomsday Clock, which predicts how close humanity is to Armageddon, remains at 90 seconds to midnight as leaders steer the world “toward catastrophe”, scientists have concluded.

In its annual announcement, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the crises of conflict, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the impact of climate change, continued with “unabated ferocity”.

The rise of artificial intelligence and the threat of another pandemic were also major concerns, the experts said. The 90-second mark represents the closest scientists have put humans to extinction since the clock was established just after the Second World War.

Keeping the clock at 90 seconds to midnight - it was first put there last year - highlighted the “continuing and unprecedented level of risk” facing the planet, according to Rachel Bronson, president and chief executive of the group.

A Ukrainian flag flies above the ruins of buildings destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian occupying forces. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images

“In 2023, trends continued to point ominously to global catastrophe,” she said. “The war in Ukraine poses an ever-present risk of nuclear escalation and the October 7 attack in Israel and war in Gaza provides further illustration of the horrors of modern war, even without nuclear escalation.”

Bronson said nuclear armed nations were engaged in modernisation programmes that “threaten to create a new nuclear arms race”.

She added that “a lack of action on climate change threatens billions of lives and livelihoods”.

The "Doomsday Clock" was reset to 90 seconds to midnight, reflecting existential threats to humanity posed by potential nuclear escalation from the Ukraine conflict and climate change. Picture: Handout / Hastings Group Media / AFP

Bronson said: “Make no mistake: resetting the clock at 90 seconds to midnight is not an indication that the world is stable. Quite the opposite. It’s urgent for governments and communities around the world to act. And the Bulletin remains hopeful - and inspired - in seeing the younger generations leading the charge.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists launched the clock in 1947 to represent the danger of humanity bringing about its own demise.

After the Cold War the hands were as far away as 17 minutes from midnight but mounting crises in the world have left humanity on the precipice of destruction, scientists say.

Jerry Brown, the former governor of California and executive chairman of the group, compared the planet to a doomed ocean liner.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the scientists who founded The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

“As though on the Titanic, leaders are steering the world toward catastrophe - more nuclear bombs, vast carbon emissions, dangerous pathogens and artificial intelligence,” he said. “Only the big powers like China, America and Russia can pull us back. Despite deep antagonisms, they must co-operate - or we are doomed.”

The group said that the US, China and Russia should “commence serious dialogue” about the threats facing the world. They have the capacity to pull the planet back from the brink of catastrophe, the scientists said, and should do so “without delay”.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, including J Robert Oppenheimer.

The Times