It is a record-breaker: The iconic Doomsday Clock was moved 30 seconds closer to midnight on Thursday by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It now stands at 2½ minutes before 12, a symbolic indicator of how close humanity is “to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making,” according to the organization, which created the symbolic measurement in 1947.
The group called the moment “historic.” This is the closest to midnight that the clock has come, and also the first time it has been measured in seconds rather than minutes. The announcement was quickly politicized.
“Thanks to Trump, the Doomsday Clock advances toward midnight,” read a New York Times op-ed headline within an hour of the announcement.
“The Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight since Trump started talking about nuclear weapons,” noted the Los Angeles Times. The Washington Post had a similar take. The news organizations had adopted the Bulletin’s philosophy.
“The United States now has a president who has promised to impede progress on both of those fronts. Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person. But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter,” members of the group wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times on Thursday.
The organization, founded shortly after World War II, made its announcement at the National Press Club, citing global threats that ranged from climate change and nuclear arsenals to cyberthreats, increased “nuclear rhetoric.” and “provocative” talk from assorted world leaders.
The group also cited the risks posed by politically charged tweets, leaked emails, fake news, and social media also recommending leaders “act like statesmen rather than petulant children.”
“For the last two years, the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock stayed set at three minutes before the hour, the closest it had been to midnight since the early 1980s,” they noted in a statement.
“In 2017, we find the danger to be even greater, the need for action more urgent. It is two and a half minutes to midnight, the Clock is ticking, global danger looms. Wise public officials should act immediately, guiding humanity away from the brink. If they do not, wise citizens must step forward and lead the way.”
Their lengthy full rationale for the decision can be found here.
When moving the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight, the organization bases its judgment on the number of nuclear warheads on the planet, incidents of stolen or lost nuclear materials, bioterrorism, cyberthreats, and yes, climate-related factors. In calmer years, the symbolic timepiece read as much as 17 minutes from midnight. That was 1991, when the Cold War ended.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.