lady and gentlemen , boys and girls , gain around , for today is the day that we find out just how close to midnight – or the end of the existence – we are . That ’s right : The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will herald at 10 am EST ( 3 pm GMT ) today what metre they will set theDoomsday Clockto .
The symbolic timepiece – where midnight represents our specie ’ demolition through a global catastrophe – has been tick off since 1947.Last year , we were two - and - a - half minutes from midnight .
Since 1991 , after the Soviet Union cave in and the Cold War came to an ending , the clock has almost continually advance upon midnight . Despite a small reprieve back in 2010 , we have inched ever nigher to the conclusion of the world since .
The confining the clock has been to midnight was back in 1953 , when an rising in East Germany was suppress by busy Russian military military group . At the same metre , Stalin had just go – setting off a power struggle – the Korean War was ongoing , nuclear weapons were proliferating across the ball , and the US had just test the first thermonuclear bomb in account .
The world is in a very different position today , but we are almost as likely to experience a orbicular tragedy as we were back then .
Nuclear weapons are still around in ludicrous numbers , and the unfortunately phallic - themed battle between North Korea ’s Kim Jong - un and President Trump over the size of their “ nuclear push ” has caused true , far-flung headache . Russia has been increasingly militaristic as of late . patriotism , secessionism , and isolationism are increasingly threatening political stability .
Although in the beginning typeset up to monitor the danger of nuclear weapons , the lean of threat that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists keeps an heart on continues to develop . mood change , in particular , is noted as an increasingly strong danger to civilization .
Even if this clock were set up at 10 second to midnight , it does n’t needfully mean the end is close . It ’s at long last a way of highlighting how heady our collective behaviors have been recently , and that a safer future tense awaits if we take these into account and mitigate them .
So – will we ? watch back here to determine out .
