Prepared by: Mustafa Al-Zoubi
Scientists have indicated that the world is closer to annihilation than it has been since the first nuclear bombs were launched at the end of World War II, by advancing the doomsday clock by 90 seconds to midnight, from 100 seconds last year.
Steve Vetter, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, and a member of the Council on Science and Security in the “Doomsday Clock”, which sets the time annually, said: Every year, the clock moves minutes or seconds towards or away from disaster, wars bring it closer, and treaties and cooperation keep it away.
And for the past two years, it’s been stuck at 100 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it’s ever come to disaster. In recent years, the risk of human-caused disasters such as climate change has also been taken into account on a clock basis.
He added: The times in which the world is living are approaching a nuclear catastrophe, and the setbacks of wars push for the approach of a nuclear war, and finally the dangers of radiation.
Since its inception in 1947, the “Doomsday Clock” based at the Keller Center, home to the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, USA, has warned humanity of how close it is to falling into a global catastrophe every year, as the clock indicates the last 100 seconds in the universe for the time of the end of the world. .
The first idea for the watch was launched in June 1947.
The inspiration behind the idea of the doomsday clock was the growing threat of nuclear weapons in the aftermath of World War II, particularly with the rising tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The position of the clock is measured by the threat of nuclear attacks, climate change, cyber warfare, bioterrorism, and anything that brings the end of the world closer.
The clock is set once a year by the scientists of the Atomic Journal, a non-profit organization on issues of science and global security resulting from the acceleration of technical progress that has negative consequences for humanity.
The expert decided when and how to move the watch. Since the death of Manhattan Project researcher Eugene Rabinowitz, the Bulletin’s editor, in 1973, the clock has been set by members of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Council, along with the Bulletin’s board of sponsors, which includes more than a dozen Nobel laureates and other international experts. in the main techniques.
Decision makers meet twice a year to discuss whether the actions of international leaders have made the world safer or more dangerous than it was the year before.
In the past few years, the world has faced some great challenges, as the Russian-Ukrainian war dominated most of 2022, and fears of escalation to a broader or even nuclear conflict.
Recent times have also witnessed confronting the unprecedented challenge of the “Covid-19” epidemic, which continues to wreak havoc in many parts of the world with the emergence of new variants, causing the number of cases in some countries to rise again.
The clock has changed since its launch in 1947, including:
1947: 48- 7 minutes
1949: 52- 3 minutes
1953: 2-59 min
1960: 7-62 minutes
1963: 67-12 min
1968: 7 minutes
--1969: 71- 10 minutes
-1972: 73- 12 minutes
1974: 79:- 9 minutes
1980: 7 minutes
1981: 83- 4 minutes
1984: 87- 3 minutes
1988: 89- 6 minutes
1990: 10 minutes
1991: 94- 17 minutes
1995:97- 14 minutes
1998 – 2001: 9 minutes
2002: 7-06 minutes
2007: 5-09 minutes
2010: 11-6 min
2012: 5-14 minutes
2015: 3-16 min
2017: 2-5 min
2018: -2 min
2019: 2- min
2020: -100 seconds, and continued into 2021.
