The symbolic Doomsday Clock, long used as a barometer of global peril, has been pushed to a perilous 85 seconds before midnight, the closest it has ever come to signaling humanitys self-destruction.
According to CBS News, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced the new setting on Tuesday, warning that the world is edging toward catastrophe amid mounting geopolitical tensions, technological upheaval and environmental strain. Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin, underscored the gravity of the moment, declaring, "Humanity has not made sufficient progress on the existential risks that endanger us all." She added that the organizations decision reflects a sober assessment of the past years developments rather than a speculative forecast.
The Bulletin cited escalating threats from nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies as key drivers of the shift. Bell cautioned that "Every second counts, and we are running out of time," a phrase that doubles as both a scientific warning and a moral indictment of global leadership.
Last year, the clock stood at 89 seconds to midnight, then the closest point to disaster in its nearly eight-decade history. The new adjustment, shaving off four more seconds, signals the Bulletins view that the world is not merely stalled but sliding further into danger.
Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletins science and security board and a physics professor at the University of Chicago, said that in the past year major powers have grown more aggressive, adversarial and nationalistic. From a conservative vantage point, this trend reflects the failure of globalist institutions and the erosion of deterrence that once kept great-power ambitions in check.
Holz also pointed to the looming expiration of a 2010 strategic arms treaty between the United States and Russia, a cornerstone of nuclear stability. "For the first time in over half a century, there will be nothing preventing a runaway nuclear arms race," Holz warned, highlighting the consequences of neglecting hard-power realities in favor of wishful diplomacy.
On the climate front, Holz noted that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and global sea levels have both reached record highs. "Droughts, fires, floods and storms continue to intensify and become more erratic, and this will only get worse," he said, suggesting that environmental challenges are being compounded by political dysfunction and regulatory overreach that often punish ordinary citizens without delivering real results.
Holz further raised alarms about a potential arms race in artificial intelligence, a technology increasingly at the center of both economic competition and national security. "AI is a significant and accelerating disruptive technology. AI is also supercharging mis- and disinformation, which makes it even more difficult to address all of the other threats we consider," Holz said, underscoring how unregulated digital chaos can undermine democratic deliberation and responsible governance.
He also expressed concern about what he called "the increasing rise of nationalistic autocracies," a trend that, in his view, risks fracturing the international order. "If the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose," Holz said, though many conservatives would counter that the real danger lies in unaccountable elites and supranational bodies that dilute sovereignty and evade public scrutiny.
Holz referenced the recent fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota, tying them to what he described as an "erosion of the constitutional rights of American citizens." "History has shown that when governments become unaccountable to their own citizens, conflict and misery follow," Holz said, echoing a longstanding conservative concern about the growth of an unrestrained administrative state and militarized bureaucracy.
The Bulletin first introduced the Doomsday Clock in 1947, in the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan during World War II, as a stark visual metaphor for existential risk. The group says its mission is to "help advance actionable ideas to reduce existential threats," a goal that implicitly demands both scientific rigor and political courage.
Over nearly 80 years, the clocks hands have been adjusted more than two dozen times, reflecting shifts in nuclear policy, technological change and global conflict. The farthest it has ever been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, following the end of the Cold War and the signing of a strategic arms treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States to reduce their nuclear arsenals, a triumph of strength-backed diplomacy and clear-eyed realism.
In the 21st century, the clock has steadily crept closer to midnight, particularly as cyber warfare and information manipulation have complicated traditional security threats. The 2020s began with the clock set at 100 seconds to midnight, with the Bulletin arguing that cyber-enabled information warfare was amplifying the dangers of nuclear conflict and climate change by weakening societys capacity to respond.
That setting held for two years until 2023, when the clock was moved to 90 seconds to midnight, largely due to what the group described as the escalating risks from Russias war in Ukraine. It remained there in 2024, as policymakers failed to restore strategic stability or address the deeper structural weaknesses in Western defense and energy policy.
Last year, the clock was nudged one second closer to midnight, with the Bulletin lamenting, "Despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course." The latest adjustment to 85 seconds underscores a sobering reality: without a renewed commitment to constitutional accountability, robust national defense, secure borders, reliable energy and technological responsibility, the worlds most powerful nations may continue drifting toward a crisis of their own making.
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