Doomsday Clock Updated, The World is Just 5 Minutes From Midnight

Today humanity moved one minute closer to disaster. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists made the announcement that they are setting the doomsday clock ahead one minute to five minutes to midnight.

The Doomsday Clock has been the symbol of apocalypse since 1947.

In making the decision on where the minute hand stands, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists weighs the worldwide impact of nuclear weapons, climate change and biosecurity, along with other issues that could determine whether the world as we know it shall survive. The closest the clock has been to midnight has been 11:57 p.m., it was put there in 1984 when the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a bitter disputed and the world could have spiraled to war at any minute. In 1991 the Doomsday Clock was at 17 minutes to midnight due to the end of the Cold War and the agreements between East and West to cut nuclear arsenals.

Since then the clock has been creeping back to midnight over fears concerning nuclear terrorism and climate change. Since the end of the Cold War America has engaged in multiple over seas conflicts and has engaged in a Global War on Terror prompted by the events of September 11, 2001.

The announcement of the new time took into account factors ranging from Iran’s nuclear program, concerns over the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster and the lack on any concrete plan to fight climate change.

There was speculation that the clock may have stayed where it was at 6 minutes to midnight with the end of the Iraq war, but it seems as if that was just wishful thinking.

In the world coming to an end?