Unlike previous weapons, however, the bomb threatened to destroy the whole human race. Like the advent of the machine gun, tank and airplane, the atomic bomb changed the shape of warfare. The year was 1945, and the atomic bomb had just changed the boundaries of science forever. What is this metaphorical clock all about, anyway? Enter the Atomic Era While the reason for the Doomsday Clock's slow march toward societal ruin is, frankly, pretty obvious, there's another question you may have. "A more moderate and predictable approach to leadership and the control of one of the two largest nuclear arsenals of the world marked a welcome change from the previous four years," they wrote.īut it was not enough to move the dial backward. Still, the 2022 statement from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists did offer up a few positive developments, citing a return to the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran Nuclear Deal, and the extension of New START arms control agreement. They also blamed use of technology in misinformation and disinformation campaigns the development of hypersonic weapons by the United States, Russia, and China recent space junk-generating ASAT tests and deteriorating talks between the world's superpowers. The experts cited a lack of progress and coordination in the fight against climate change, the ongoing pandemic and evolution of troubling new variants, and North Korea's continued efforts to develop nuclear weapons. "In fact, it reflects the judgment of the board that we are stuck in a perilous moment, one that brings neither stability nor security." "Steady is not good news," Sharon Squassoni, a research professor at George Washington University's Institute for International Science and Technology Policy and a co-chair on the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, said during a press briefing on Thursday. This year also marks 75 years since the organization began tracking our inevitable demise. The organization announced for the third year in a row that it is keeping its figurative Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight-the closest we've come to a symbolic apocalypse since the first tests of the hydrogen bomb in 1953. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit organization made up of scientists and global security experts, has published a new statement deriding the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and expressing concern about nuclear weapons, misinformation, and climate change. Life as we know it is still on the brink of disaster. This year marks the 75th anniversary since former Manhattan Project scientists created the Doomsday Clock in 1947.You can thank the pandemic, climate change, the rise of misinformation, and the threat of nuclear war for this update. The Doomsday Clock isn't updated on a set time frame, but rather, as events dictate.For the third year in a row, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has decided to keep its Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight.Watch the Bulletin’s 2022 clock set announcement at 10 a.m. Michele Wucker, author of "The Gray Rhino" and "You Are What You Risk" Bina Venkataraman, author of "The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age," and editorial page editor, The Boston Globe Jeff Schlegelmilch, author of "Rethinking Readiness - A Brief Guide to 21st Century Megadisasters" and director of Columbia's National Center for Disaster Preparedness Join experts from the organization along with these discussants - all experts on forging productive paths in dangerous times: Andy Revkin of the Columbia Climate School leads a discussion of the latest assessment of global threats from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ 2022 Doomsday Clock announcement – 75 years after this effort began.
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