"89 Seconds Left Until Human Extinction"... Doomsday Clock Approaches Closest Ever to Earth

89 Seconds, the Shortest Since 1947
"Nuclear War Risk Continues to Grow"

The second hand of the "Doomsday Clock," which symbolically shows the time remaining until the destruction of the Earth, has been set to 89 seconds to midnight.

According to foreign media including AP, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BSA) announced on the 28th (local time) that the second hand of the Doomsday Clock was set to 89 seconds to midnight.

The Doomsday Clock is a clock that indicates the danger humanity faces from nuclear weapons and civilization. When the clock's hands point to midnight, it signifies the end of the Earth. Since 1947, the BSA has announced the time on the Doomsday Clock to raise awareness of the risks of humanity's destruction due to nuclear war, climate change, biological threats, artificial intelligence (AI), and other new technologies.

The 89 seconds announced this time is the shortest since 1947.

When it first started in 1947, there were 7 minutes to midnight, but in 1949, when the Soviet Union first succeeded in testing a nuclear bomb, it was adjusted to 3 minutes to midnight.

Doomsday Clock Yonhap News

The safest year from destruction was 1991, when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), agreeing to reduce strategic nuclear weapons. At that time, the clock was set to 17 minutes to midnight.

Last year, it was 90 seconds. Since 2020, it had been maintained at 100 seconds to midnight, but in 2023, reflecting increased concerns about the use of nuclear weapons following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it was moved to 90 seconds.

The BSA explained the reason for moving the clock forward as "the risk of nuclear war continues to increase." They added, "Russia has suspended implementation of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States, China is rapidly increasing its nuclear weapons, and the United States has shifted its policy toward expanding nuclear weapons, abandoning its role in issuing warnings."

Additionally, attempts to integrate AI into weapons, the deprioritization of climate change policies in several countries including the United States, and the use of AI in dangerous biological research were cited as causes accelerating the approach of destruction.