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The Doomsday Clock has had its annual update and things are looking pretty unstable for 2025 and beyond.
The clock has been updated every year since 1947 and shows us just how close we are to suffering a global catastrophe caused by ourselves.
Humanity could be at risk for a number of reasons including climate change, nuclear war and now even artificial intelligence.
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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) are the ones who set the Doomsday Clock each year.
Their aim is to ‘equip the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence’.
How it goes is that they give the clock a time and the closer it is to midnight, the more at risk we are.
Now, its 2025 prediction has been unveiled and for this year, the clock is now set at 89 seconds.
Revealing the result, Daniel Holz, who is the chair of the science and security board, said: “This is the closest the world has ever been to midnight.”
The reason for the time being brought closer to midnight is due to nuclear risk, biological threat and advances in disruptive technologies.
In 2023, the clock was worryingly set at 90 seconds to midnight after Russia invaded Ukraine.
For last year’s update of the clock, the outcome remained the same as we are in ‘a time of unprecedented danger’.
In 2024, Rachel Bronson, PhD, president and CEO of BAS, said: “Countries with nuclear weapons are engaged in modernisation programmes that threaten to create a new nuclear arms race.
“Earth experienced its hottest year on record and massive floods, fires, and other disasters have taken root.
“And lack of action on climate change threatens billions of lives and livelihoods.
“Preventing future pandemics has proven useful but it also presents the risk of causing one.
“And recent advances in recent artificial intelligence raise a variety of questions about how to control a technology that could improve or threaten civilization in countless ways.”
Dr Bronson went on to add: “Make no mistake: resetting the clock at 90 seconds to midnight is not an indication that the world is stable.
“Quite the opposite. It’s urgent for governments and communities around the world to act.
“And BAS remains hopeful—and inspired—in seeing the younger generations leading the charge.”
People have taken to social media to react to the news, with many commenting under the Doomsday Clock livestream on YouTube.
One user wrote: “This was too generous.”
Another said: “So how bad did we s*** the bed this time?”
And a third person added: “2026 will be scary.”
