They’ve Moved the Doomsday Clock Again: How Scared Should You Be?

The Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that they have once again changed the Doomsday Clock.

And the news isn’t good.

According to this group of scientists, we’re now just 90 seconds from doomsday, a time when the entire world could erupt into a nuclear holocaust.

Here’s their announcement as shown on CBS News:

The last time they changed the clock was in 2020 when it was set to 100 seconds. Now, after assessing world events, they moved it to just 90 seconds.

This is the closest the clock has ever been to Midnight.

The main reason? Tensions between Ukraine and Russia, including the latter’s threats of using nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, plus a “hamstringing of the world’s response to climate change.”

Exactly what is this clock and who invented it?

The Doomsday Clock was set up by a group of scientists in 1947 to measure how close the world is to self-destruction by a  nuclear war, climate crises, genetic engineering and other threats.

Founding members of the group included notables like Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Eugene Rabinowitch and others.

Heavy duty brain power, for sure.

Every January since 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has released their assessment of how close to doom we are.

In those first years after WWII, the clock was set at 7 minutes. That scared a lot of people.

But it got a lot worse.

In the years that followed, the clock ranged from 2 minutes (US/USSR H bomb race in 1953), to 12 minutes (Partial Test Ban in 1963)  to 17 minutes (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1991).

As recent as 2020, at the end of the Trump administration, by the way, it was at 100 seconds.

Now, thanks to Mr. Putin and his nuclear threats, we’re suddenly down to 90 seconds.

Is the danger really this great, bigger than Russia’s first hydrogen bombs in 1953 or the Cuban missile crisis in’62?

Or is something else at play here?

Check this quote from Investors.com:

It’s clear from its movements over the past seven decades that the Doomsday Clock is more about politics than any sort of scientific measure of the risk of nuclear annihilation.

After all, the Clock routinely counted down after a Republican wins the White House, and ticked up when Democrats reclaim the presidency.

It moved a minute closer to midnight when Eisenhower took office, and four minutes closer to doomsday under Reagan. It ticked down four minutes while George W. Bush was president.

In contrast, the scientists moved the clock way back during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, kept it at an above-average level for Carter’s term in office, and set it at historic highs for much of Clinton’s eight years.

Since 1947, in fact, the Doomsday Clock has averaged 6.4 minutes to midnight during Republican administrations, compared with 8.3 minutes during Democratic ones.

Ordinary citizens were more specific in who’s to blame:

When President Trump left office, the DOOMSDAY CLOCK was at 23:58:20

Today it is at 23:58:30, the CLOSEST TO MIDNIGHT in the history of the clock, which goes back to 1947

Thanks President Biden. Bang up job!!! pic.twitter.com/apAbp9sDsM

— Howard Roark (@GillGripper) January 24, 2023

They should call it "The bunch of random dudes tell you how scared they are based on whatever is in the news today clock." It would be more accurate.

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) January 24, 2023

The real question here is: how will the current administration deal with these intense issues?

In this, one of our most dangerous times in history, do we have the strong, insightful, energetic and courageous leader in the White House that America so desperately needs?

A leader who will not be intimidated, who will not cave to foreign threats or missile rattling?

We can think of only one leader–the next one–who can do that.

Comment if you agree.