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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world, has decided to keep the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight for 2024. This means we are still very close to a global disaster.
This decision shows that the dangerous trends that could lead to a worldwide disaster are still happening. It also highlights the need to deal with these big threats quickly.
The experts say that they didn’t keep the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight because things have gotten better. Instead, it’s because there are still a lot of big dangers out there. The fact that the clock is still 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it’s ever been, shows just how serious the situation is right now.
The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947, is a symbol that shows how close we are to destroying ourselves with our dangerous technologies. At first, it was all about the threat of nuclear weapons after World War II, especially the risk of a nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. But in 2007, the Bulletin decided to also include the risks from climate change.
A symbol of global peril
Rachel Bronson, the head of the Bulletin, has said that the situation is urgent. The fact that the Doomsday Clock hasn’t changed doesn’t mean things are stable. It means we need to take action now. She pointed out that there are conflicts around the world that could lead to nuclear war, climate change is already causing harm, and technologies like AI and biological research are moving faster than we can control them.
The idea for the Doomsday Clock came from the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, which created the first nuclear weapons during World War II. When artist Martyl Langsdorf was asked to design a cover for the Bulletin’s magazine in June 1947, she decided to use a clock to show the urgent need to control nuclear weapons.
The experts have said in their 2024 statement that the world is still heading towards a global disaster. The war in Ukraine and the growing use of nuclear weapons are increasing the risk of nuclear war. China, Russia, and the U.S. are all spending a lot of money to make their nuclear weapons bigger and better, which makes the risk of nuclear war even greater.
In 2023, the Earth had its hottest year ever, and there were a lot of floods, wildfires, and other disasters caused by climate change that affected millions of people. At the same time, there were fast and worrying changes in life sciences and other technologies, and governments weren’t doing enough to control them.
Record clean energy investment, fossil fuels persist
In 2023, the world invested a record $1.7 trillion in clean energy. Countries that makeup half of the world’s economy pledged to triple their renewable energy capacity by 2030. However, nearly $1 trillion was still invested in fossil fuels.
The current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not enough to prevent the dangerous impacts of climate change, which hit the poorest people the hardest. If we don’t significantly increase our efforts, the human suffering caused by climate disruption will continue to rise.
Last year, we saw major advancements in life sciences and related technologies, including genetic engineering.
One major concern is the merging of emerging artificial intelligence tools and biological technologies, which could allow individuals to misuse biology. In October, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order for “safe, secure, and trustworthy AI”. This order calls for protection against the risks of using AI to create dangerous biological materials by developing new standards for biological synthesis screening. However, this order is not legally binding.
There’s a concern that large language models could enable individuals without much knowledge to identify, acquire, and use biological agents that could harm humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Efforts were made in the United States last year to improve oversight of risky life science research, but more needs to be done.
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