Doomsday Clock Announcement: Six Minutes to Midnight

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Today, the Doomsday Clock was moved to six minutes to midnight . Previously, the Doomsday Clock was set at five minutes to midnight. As you may have guessed, "midnight" means "global annihilation". What is the Doomsday Clock? The Doomsday Clock has nothing to do with 2012 predictions, but is a graphic representation of how close we, as a species are to killing ourselves. The analysis of where the minute hand points is based on economic, political and ecological factors, and is decided by the science and security board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS).

For the first time since atomic bombs were first dropped, world leaders are actually working toward dismantling nuclear arsenals, even as nations work to curb emissions to head off the man-made effects on climate change. A one-minute change acknowledges progress, but also highlights how much needs to be done: six minutes to midnight is still pretty close to midnight.

The Doomsday Clock announcement was made via Silverlight webcast on turnbacktheclock.org, as well as via Twitter.

Doomsday Clock announcement: Six Minutes to Midnight (pdf)

The twelve hours on the Doomsday Clock represent the sum total of human history, so, the closer we get to midnight, the closer we are to the end of that history. This also means that, as time goes on, each minute on the Doomsday Clock accounts for a larger unit; however, since the Doomsday Clock was invented in 1947, not enough time has passed for those units to grow in any appreciable way.

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