No better, no worse. Image Credit: YouTube / Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The symbolic clock has remained at the same ominous position now for three years in a row.
Maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947, the Doomsday Clock is a visual representation of how close the world is to disaster based on political, environmental and technological threats such as nuclear annihilation and climate change.
Back at the beginning of 2020 the clock's hands were moved to just 100 seconds to midnight - a particularly troubling position representative of the fragile state of the world.
When it came to last year's update, the scientists decided to leave the hands where they were and that is, once again, exactly what has happened during this year's update as well.
"The Doomsday Clock is holding steady at 100 seconds to midnight. But steady is not good news," said Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Bulletin's science and security board.
"In fact, it reflects the judgment of the board that we are stuck in a perilous moment, one that brings neither stability nor security."
Among the positive contributing factors this year were the restarting of talks with Iran, the extension of the New Start arms control agreement and the election of a US administration willing to take the threat of climate change and global warming seriously.
On the more negative side of things, continued investment in nuclear weapons and a general lack of progress in global efforts to tackle climate change were seen as major downers.
"The Doomsday Clock is not set by good intentions, but rather by evidence of action, or in this case inaction,' said Stanford University's Prof Scott Sagan.
It seems to me this has been inching closer for the lat 50yrs, that I have been reading about the clock. Who has money on this or what the Hell let it rip
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