Doomsday Clock Tick Tocks Toward Catastrophy
More Articles Related to PreparednessOn January 17th at 14:30 hrs GMT the Doomsday Clock was advanced two minutes and is currently set at 5 to minutes midnight.
The Doomsday Clock is an arbitrary scale representing the number of minutes left before global catastrophic destruction. The clock is maintained by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago and has been running since 1947 when it was set to seven minutes before midnight.
The Clock was originally conceived to monitor nuclear weapons and gauge the chances of all out nuclear war. It has been expanded to include climate-changing technologies (leading to global warming) and developments in the sciences that could lead to harm on a massive scale.
Most of us are living in a basic state of denial. While thousands of nuclear warheads are pointed at our towns and cities, we go about our daily tasks with little thought as to just what the world be like if the Great Disaster should occur.
On a number of occasions tensions between countries have reached the point where nuclear war seemed imminent. Mistakes have occurred and will occur again, when a country believed it was under nuclear attack and had to decide whether or not to launch its own missles. Add to that the possibility of terrorist attack with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, global warming, the wholesale destruction of the environment that mankind needs in order to survive, and you can see how serious the situation is that mankind faces.
Nuclear Doomsday
For more than forty years the United States and the Soviet Union have maintained huge nuclear arsenals designed for mutual destruction. With itchy trigger fingers, the two nations eyed one another suspiciously with over one thousand warheads ready to launch at a moments notice.
Although it is now unlikely a deliberate nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States will occur, there remains the possibility of an accidental launch. In addition, there is increasing worldwide proliferation of nuclear arsenals throughout the world. Pakistan and India have developed nuclear weapons in recent years and stand poised for major war. North Korea and Iran, both unstable countries, are actively perusing nuclear capabilities.
Increasing terrorism worldwide poses an increasing risk that nuclear weapons will be used by radical elements. The breakup of the Soviet Union has placed large stocks of nuclear materials within the potential grasp of terrorists who seek to destroy their perceived enemies.
Environmental Doomsday
Beginning in the 1950's scientists began seeing changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the earths atmosphere that were directly related to the increasing use of fossil fuels. Today scientists have found that due to use of fossil fuels the earth is growing warmer at an alarming rate. This impacts everything from the polar ice caps, coastal cities, production of food, and the very ecosystem humans depend upon for survival.
Technological Doomsday
Advances in the sciences of genetics and biology have given rise to possibilities of malicious use or unintended consequences. These sciences can be used to improve our standard of living. However they can also be used, intentionally or not, in destructive ways. Organisms can be used to compromise biological functions of perceived enemies, and nanotechnology holds the ability to create microscopic delivery systems for chemical or biological weapons.
When the Doomsday Clock Has Been Reset
Since 1947 international events have caused the clock to be reset eighteen times:
- 1949 The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. Doomsday clock advances four minutes to 3-minutes to midnight.
- 1953 The United States and the Soviet Union both test thermonuclear devices. Doomsday Clock advanced one minute to 2-minutes to midnight. This is the clocks closest approach to date.
- 1960 Scientific cooperation and public understanding of the dangers of nuclear weapons, Doomsday Clock is set back five minutes to 7-minutes to midnight.
- 1963 - The United States and Soviet Union limit nuclear testing with the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Doomsday Clock set back five minutes to 12-minutes to midnight.
- 1968 In 1960 France, and then China in 1964, acquire and test nuclear weapons. There is war in the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and Vietnam. Doomsday Clock advanced five minutes to changed to 7-minutes to midnight.
- 1969 - The United States ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Doomsday Clock set back three minutes to 10-minutes to midnight.
- 1972 The United States and the Soviet Union sign the SALT I Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Doomsday clock set back two minutes to 12-minutes to midnight.
- 1974 India tests a nuclear device ironically called The Smiling Buddha. SALT II talks stall. Doomsday Clock advanced three minutes to 9-minutes to midnight.
- 1980 Continued deadlock in United States and Soviet Union talks and a marked increase in nationalist wars and acts of terrorism. Doomsday Clock advances two minutes to 7-minutes to midnight.
- 1981 Arms race escalates, conflicts in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Poland add to world tension. Doomsday Clock advances three minutes closer to 4-minutes to midnight
- 1984 Further escalation of the arms race under the U.S. policies of Ronald Reagan. Doomsday Clock advances one minute closer to 3-minutes to midnight.
- 1988 The United States and Soviet Union sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces. Doomsday Clock set back three minutes to 6-minutes to midnight.
- 1990 The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Cold War nearing an end. Doomsday Clock set back four minutes to 10-minutes to midnight
- 1991 The United States and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Doomsday Clock set back seven minutes to 17-minutes to midnight. This is the furthest the Doomsday Clock has been from midnight so far.
- 1995 Global military spending continues at Cold War levels. Post-Soviet nuclear proliferation of weapons and technology. Doomsday Clock advances three-minutes to 14-minutes to midnight
- 1998 India and Pakistan aggressively test nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia run into difficulties in further reducing stockpiles. Doomsday Clock advances five minutes to 9-minutes to midnight.
- 2002 Global nuclear disarmament negligible. The United States rejects a number of arms control treaties and announces its intentions to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Doomsday Clock advances two minutes to 9-minutes to midnight.
- 2007 Increasing concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions and a nuclear test by North Korea. Experts assessing the dangers posed to civilization have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind. Doomsday clock advanced two minutes to 5-minutes to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock is a chilling reminder of the precarious situation of mankind. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons proliferation, destruction of the very environment we need in order to sustain us, terrorism, and ignorance have combined to make our world a dangerous place. Disaster of unprecedented scale is imminent as the Doomsday Clock ticks down the final minutes.
Survival Preparedness may be our only answer.
South Dakota
The doomsday clock didn't move on September 11, 2001? The largest Catastrophy on US land. I would be willing to bet that there were fingers hovering over "the button" somewhere on that date.
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