By Tim Binnall
The 2023 update to the Doomsday Clock, an assessment of catastrophic threats facing the planet, saw the metaphorical measurement moved to an ominous 90 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has ever been to 'the end.' The worrisome but not altogether surprising change was announced on Tuesday by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), which created the annual evaluation back in 1947. The clock had remained steady at 100 seconds to midnight for the last three years, however the group indicated that 2023's historic assessment came about due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as humanity's failure to adequately address other longstanding threats over the course of 2022.
Detailing this year's update, BAS explained that "Russia’s war on Ukraine has raised profound questions about how states interact, eroding norms of international conduct that underpin successful responses to a variety of global risks." Beyond the geopolitical turmoil brought about by the invasion, they expressed concern about "Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons" and mused that "the possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high." In a testament to how significantly the war influenced their assessment, the BAS noted that they have issued their annual statement in Russian and Ukrainian for the first time ever in the hopes of reaching and influencing the leaders of the countries currently locked in battle.
In addition to the increased dangers created by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the organization also pointed to climate change and bio-threats as well as disinformation and disruptive technology as issues which pose perilous threats to humanity. As is the case with every update, BAS urged world leaders to make a concerted effort to work together and confront these challenges, though the troublesome trajectory of the measurement over the last decade suggests that their exhortations will go unheeded. For those keeping score at home, while 90 seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been to catastrophe, its most optimistic assessment was back in 1991, when the dissolution of the Soviet Union put the measurement at a healthy 17 minutes to midnight.