Latest news with #AtomicScientists
USA Today
29-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
What is the Doomsday clock? Why did it move closer to global catastrophe? What it means
What is the Doomsday clock? Why did it move closer to global catastrophe? What it means Show Caption Hide Caption 'Doomsday Clock' moves one second closer to midnight The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock one second closer to midnight, meaning humanity is closer to destroying itself. The 2025 Doomsday Clock is ticking closer to midnight than ever before, signaling 'humanity edging closer to catastrophe' according to the Atomic Scientists. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced on Tuesday the clock now reads 89 seconds to midnight, one second closer than last year. It's the closest it has been since 1947, when the clock was introduced. Scientists warned in their 2025 Doomsday Clock Statement, the new 2025 Clock time signals that "the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink. The world depends on immediate action." Manpreet Sethi, member of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and distinguished fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi, said in the statement:'The risk of nuclear use continues to grow due to capabilities building up and treaties breaking down. Russia has suspended compliance with the New START treaty and withdrawn ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal. And, the US has abdicated its role as a voice of caution. It seems inclined to expand its nuclear arsenal and adopt a posture that reinforces the belief that 'limited' use of nuclear weapons can be managed. Such misplaced confidence could have us stumble into a nuclear war.' Another member scientist and senior research scholar for cyber policy and security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Herb Lin, said AI has the potential to accelerate "chaos and disorder." He expressed concerns over integrating artificial intelligence into weapons of war, raising questions about the "extent to which machines will be allowed to make or support military decisions—even when such decisions could kill on a vast scale." Here's what to know about the Doomsday Clock and what it means. What is the Doomsday Clock? The Doomsday Clock is a metaphor or symbol representing how close humanity is to self-destruction via a human-made global catastrophe according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer and University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first nuclear weapons for the Manhattan Project. The group started the Doomsday Clock two years later. The Clock's original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has since been set backward eight times and forward 18 times. The farthest time from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, and the nearest is 89 seconds, set in January 2025. The clock is not actual time, but a hypothetical time that takes into account threats such as climate change, the danger of nuclear weapon disasters, instability in the Middle East, the threat of pandemics, artificial intelligence and mis- and disinformation. This year's member scientists also expressed concerns over climate change, noting in their statement that '2024 was the hottest year on record. Extreme weather and other climate events—floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires— devastated societies, rich and poor, as well as ecosystems around the world. Yet the global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise."
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Doomsday clock ticks one second, closest ever to midnight
The "doomsday clock" symbolizing how close humanity is to destruction ticked one second closer to midnight Tuesday as concerns on nuclear war, climate and public health were jolted by US President Donald Trump's return. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the clock at the start of the Cold War, shifted the clock to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been, a week after Trump's inauguration. The clock was last moved to 90 seconds to midnight over nuclear-armed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was originally placed at seven minutes to midnight in 1947. "At 89 seconds to midnight, the doomsday clock stands closer to catastrophe than at any moment in its history," said former Colombian president and Nobel Peace laureate Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders, a group of major former leaders. "The clock speaks to the existential threats that confront us and the need for unity and bold leadership to turn back its hands," he told a news conference in Washington to present the findings from the board of experts. "This is a bleak picture. But it is not yet irreversible," he said. Just days into his second presidency, Trump has already shattered norms on international cooperation. Santos welcomed Trump's pledges for diplomacy with Russia and China. Trump has vowed to end the Ukraine war, which has raised fears of Russian use of nuclear weapons, by pressing both sides. But Santos said that the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and World Health Organization set back the planet on two top risks. The world just experienced another record-breaking year of high temperatures and major disasters. Other countries could soon say that if the United States, the world's largest economy, "is not going to make an effort to limit the carbon emissions, why should I?" Santos said. And with many people's memories fading of Covid-19, "we have to remind them what happened -- and what will happen will be worse, according to all the scientists," Santos said. - Threats, and benefits, from AI - Suzet McKinney, a public health expert on the board of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said the risks of infectious disease was confounded by advances in artificial intelligence, which increase the risks that rogue actors could unleash biological weapons. "As nation-states around the world and even our own government engage in practices that are sure to encourage rogue behavior and/or cripple our ability to curb the spread of infectious diseases, novel or otherwise, we cannot hide our heads in the sand," she told the news conference. But Robert Socolow, a physicist who also serves on the board, said that the unveiling of Chinese intelligence firm DeepSeek -- which has rattled the United States -- could ultimately also pay dividends by reducing energy demand from the fast-growing field of AI. The Chinese breakthrough may mirror "the kind of progress in semiconductor chips that reduce the energy demands of ordinary computing" in the analogue era. But the experts also warned that artificial intelligence risked worsening disinformation. "All of these dangers are greatly exacerbated by a potent threat multiplier -- the spread of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood," said Daniel Holz, chair of the board. sct/st
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Doomsday clock ticks one second, closest ever to midnight
The "doomsday clock" symbolizing how close humanity is to destruction ticked one second closer to midnight Tuesday as concerns on nuclear war, climate and public health were jolted by US President Donald Trump's return. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the clock at the start of the Cold War, shifted the clock to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been, a week after Trump's inauguration. The clock was last moved to 90 seconds to midnight over nuclear-armed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was originally placed at seven minutes to midnight in 1947. "At 89 seconds to midnight, the doomsday clock stands closer to catastrophe than at any moment in its history," said former Colombian president and Nobel Peace laureate Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders, a group of major former leaders. "The clock speaks to the existential threats that confront us and the need for unity and bold leadership to turn back its hands," he told a news conference in Washington to present the findings from the board of experts. "This is a bleak picture. But it is not yet irreversible," he said. Just days into his second presidency, Trump has already shattered norms on international cooperation. Santos welcomed Trump's pledges for diplomacy with Russia and China. Trump has vowed to end the Ukraine war, which has raised fears of Russian use of nuclear weapons, by pressing both sides. But Santos said that the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and World Health Organization set back the planet on two top risks. The world just experienced another record-breaking year of high temperatures and major disasters. Other countries could soon say that if the United States, the world's largest economy, "is not going to make an effort to limit the carbon emissions, why should I?" Santos said. And with many people's memories fading of Covid-19, "we have to remind them what happened -- and what will happen will be worse, according to all the scientists," Santos said. - Threats, and benefits, from AI - Suzet McKinney, a public health expert on the board of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said the risks of infectious disease was confounded by advances in artificial intelligence, which increase the risks that rogue actors could unleash biological weapons. "As nation-states around the world and even our own government engage in practices that are sure to encourage rogue behavior and/or cripple our ability to curb the spread of infectious diseases, novel or otherwise, we cannot hide our heads in the sand," she told the news conference. But Robert Socolow, a physicist who also serves on the board, said that the unveiling of Chinese intelligence firm DeepSeek -- which has rattled the United States -- could ultimately also pay dividends by reducing energy demand from the fast-growing field of AI. The Chinese breakthrough may mirror "the kind of progress in semiconductor chips that reduce the energy demands of ordinary computing" in the analogue era. But the experts also warned that artificial intelligence risked worsening disinformation. "All of these dangers are greatly exacerbated by a potent threat multiplier -- the spread of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood," said Daniel Holz, chair of the board. sct/st
