Camilla Jessen
What the Doomsday Clock signals about the state of the world.
Scientists responsible for setting the Doomsday Clock are meeting today, renewing attention on how close humanity is judged to be to global catastrophe.
Origins of the Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock was introduced in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group founded by researchers who had worked on the Manhattan Project. The clock was designed by artist Martyl Langsdorf and first appeared on the cover of the Bulletin’s magazine.
Its purpose was to offer a clear, visual representation of how close humanity is to self-inflicted catastrophe, originally focused on the threat of nuclear war.
Over the decades, the scope has expanded to include other existential risks, such as climate change, biological threats and the misuse of emerging technologies.
How the clock has shifted over time
Since its creation, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted multiple times to reflect changing global conditions. In 1953, following the development of hydrogen bombs by the United States and the Soviet Union, it was set at two minutes to midnight.
During a particularly tense period of the Cold War in 1984, it stood at three minutes to midnight. The clock moved furthest away from catastrophe in 1991, when the end of the Cold War and the signing of the START treaty between the US and Russia pushed it back to 17 minutes to midnight.
In the years since, however, the clock has steadily moved forward again, reflecting growing concern over nuclear tensions, climate change and technological risks.
The current setting
The Doomsday Clock is presently set at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been.
In 2020, it was moved to 100 seconds to midnight, and last year scientists advanced it by one additional second.
At the time, the Bulletin cited “unmistakable signs of danger” and warned that global leaders were failing to take sufficient action to reduce existential risks. The group emphasized that even a shift of one second should be taken seriously, given how close the clock already is to midnight.
What midnight represents
The Doomsday Clock does not forecast specific events or predict the future.
Instead, midnight represents a symbolic point at which humanity has entered a catastrophic situation of its own making.
This could involve nuclear conflict, severe and irreversible environmental damage, or another global crisis that experts believe could have been prevented through earlier action.
Reaching midnight would signal a collective failure to address known threats, rather than an unavoidable outcome.
Sources: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, LadBible
