The Doomsday Clock
The doomsday clock is a symbolic, metaphorical clock that counts down a timer that represents how close humanity is to destroying the world with its own dangerous technology. Yes, that’s right, a clock that shows when humans are gonna destroy planet earth with our own creations. The clock is currently at 85 seconds to midnight and it’s the closest it has ever been. There is no proven date for the clock to hit midnight, and we for sure don’t want it to be soon.
The doomsday clock was created in 1947 by Martyl Langsdorf for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. According to Martyl he created the clock because it seemed like a perfect symbol for conveying the scientists’ sense of urgency. He also set the clock at 7 minutes to midnight because “it suited his eye”, and because nuclear weapons started becoming more lethal. It makes sense because only 2 years earlier, the first ever nuclear weapon, nicknamed “The Gadget”, was created and used during the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.
The doomsday clock was created in 1947 and started off at 7 minutes. The first change of the clock was in 1949 and the clock moved 4 minutes forward, leaving it 3 minutes from midnight. It moved forward because the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb. The next change in 1953 moved up one minute because the US started testing hydrogen bombs and it was the closest point to midnight during the Cold War era. The next change was in 1963 and it moved back 10 minutes because the US and Soviet Union signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty. The next change was in 1991 which made it 17 minutes because it followed the end of the cold war and the signing of the START treaty. Also, it made it the farthest time from midnight. The next change was in 2018 when nuclear tension and climate change inaction affected the clock to 2 minutes, then in 2020 it changed to 100 seconds.
As of now, the clock sits at 85 seconds and it is the closest to midnight it has ever been. The clock is at 85 seconds for a couple reasons, one of them being the uprising of AI. AI factories take up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, therefore it’s causing bad climate change around the world. AI also is taking massive energy consumption which is leading to high carbon emissions.
