By Tim Binnall
The 2024 update to the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic assessment of the catastrophic threats facing humanity, saw the metaphorical measurement remain at a worrisome 90 seconds to midnight. This year's appraisal was announced on Tuesday morning by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) which has produced the annual estimate since 1947. While one might think that the clock remaining steady for 2024 would be somewhat reassuring, the group's president, Rachel Bronson, was quick to dispel that notion, stressing that it "is not an indication that the world is stable. Quite the opposite." To that end, the group as a whole offered the rather unsettling observation that "ominous trends continue to point the world toward global catastrophe."
Among the major issues that concern the BAS as 2024 gets underway are the ongoing war in Ukraine, the further development of the respective nuclear arsenals of the United States, China, and Russia, the exacerbation of climate change, and the increasing sophistication of "disruptive technologies" such as AI and genetic engineering. Gov Jerry Brown, who serves as executive chair of the BAS, lamented that "leaders are steering the world toward catastrophe" and argued that only the global superpowers "can pull us back. Despite deep antagonisms, they must cooperate – or we are doomed." As such, the group called for the United States, China, and Russia to "commence serious dialogue about each of the global threats" detailed in the annual assessment.
In a testament to how perilous the BAS sees the current state of the world, it's worth noting that their 'best' evaluation came in 1991 when the metaphorical measurement was a whopping 17 minutes to midnight, thanks to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. By contrast, the current 'time' of 90 seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been to a hypothetical doomsday, which is a dubious record that was set with last year's update. With that in mind, those who may be dispirited by this year's assessment can at least take solace in knowing that there remains some proverbial wiggle room before the world comes crashing down around us.