The hands of the famed “Doomsday Clock” have moved 30 seconds closer to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists revealed Thursday morning.
The clock was introduced by the Chicago-based scientific journal 70 years ago as a graphical means of expressing the existential threat posed to life on Earth. In 1947, the nonprofit organization notes, there was but one technology believed to hold the potential to destroy the planet: nuclear energy and weaponry. Today, Rachel Bronson, the Bulletin’s publisher, noted in a statement released early Wednesday , climate change is an additional central threat, with such factors as artificial intelligence and cyberthreats also emerging on the radar.
Even “fake news” merits mention, according to Bronson, with Pakistan’s foreign minister having tweeted a bellicose response late last year to a fabricated news story about Israel.
