Doomsday clock 2020 moves closer than ever to Apocalypse as nuclear war threat pushes it 20 seconds nearer to midnight
THE Doomsday Clock has moved 20 seconds closer bringing us nearer than ever to the apocalypse.
The hands on the clock are now set at 100 seconds to midnight.
In a statement from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said humanity is facing "two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond".
It explains: "The international security situation is dire, not just because these threats exist, but because world leaders have allowed the international political infrastructure for managing them to erode."
The journal writes that although there has been mass protests and an increase of public awareness it isn't good enough.
It adds: "But given the inaction—and in too many cases counterproductive actions—of international leaders, the members of the Science and Security Board are compelled to declare a state of emergency that requires the immediate, focused, and unrelenting attention of the entire world.
"It is 100 seconds to midnight. The Clock continues to tick. Immediate action is required."
The panel did express their hope for humanity and cited the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.
They wrote: "The Bulletin believes that human beings can manage the dangers posed by the technology that humans create.
"Indeed, in the 1990s leaders in the United States and the Soviet Union took bold actions that made nuclear war markedly less likely—and as a result the Bulletin moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock the farthest it has been from midnight."
When have we been close to midnight?
- In 1953 the clock lost five minutes because at the time the US and the Soviet Union were testing nuclear weapons
- In 1963 the clock gained those five minutes back because the US and Soviet Union signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty to limit their testing
- By 1968, France and China developed nuclear weapons and took away five minutes from the clock
- In the early 1970s five minutes was given back after three treaties were signed in regards to nuclear weapons
- However, when India tested a nuclear device in 1974 three minutes were taken away
- In 1981, six minutes were lost during the height of nuclear arms race between the US and Soveit union
- In 1991 more treaties were signed and the panel awared 14 minutes
- By 1998 when India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons as well as an increase in military spending by the US a total of eight minutes was taken away
- In 2002, another two minutes were taken away because of 9/11
- In 2007, two were minutes were lost again because North Korea tested nuclear weapons and Iran's nuclear ambitious were murky
- 2017 was the first time the panel took away time that was less than a minute as only 30 seconds was lost
If we continue to lose 20 seconds every year then it would mean the apocalypse in 2025.
The clock is designed to serve as a warning to the public about how close we are destroying the planet.
Rachel Bronson, President and CEO at the Bulletin, said: "The nuclear and climate conditions are worsening.
"It would be a privilege and pleasure to move the hands of the clock backwards but that isn't the case."
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists spent the last six months debating the decision with the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel Laureates.
The clock was devised in 1947 by the respected journal the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and its face signifies the likelihood of man-made global annihilation.
It is a metaphor for threats to humanity from unchecked scientific and technical advances.
The closer the time to midnight, the closer the world is considered to be to catastrophe.
It isn't the first time the panel has readjusted the clock over a country's possession of nuclear weapons.
During the Cold War the clock has not been so close to midnight since the 1980s under US President Ronald Reagan.
It has been readjusted 23 times and it has not been so close to midnight since the worsening of the Cold War under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
The clock ticked over to two minutes before midnight in 1953, when the Soviet Union and USA tested new hydrogen bombs within a few months of each other.
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The clock has been adjusted throughout the years when new countries developed nuclear weapons and when they signed treaties promising not the use them.
Today, nine countries have nuclear weapons and not all of them are signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel, India and Pakistan have not signed the treaty and North Korea "un-signed" the NPT in 2003.
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