Goed nieuws voor de mensheid: we zijn wat verder verwijderd van de totale vernietiging van de Aarde. De zogenaamde Doomsday Clock is een minuutje achteruitgezet, zodat ze op zes minuten van middernacht staat. Dat gebeurde omdat er (bescheiden) progressie merkbaar is bij de twee grootste bedreigingen voor de mensheid: de klimaatverandering en een nucleaire vernietiging.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists aan de universiteit van Chicago, die de symbolische klok sinds 1947 bijhoudt, verklaart het verzetten van de klok als volgt: "Voor het eerst werken de leiders van kernwapenlanden samen om hun kernarsenaal af te bouwen en beter te beveiligen. Langs de andere kant engageren de geïndustrialiseerde landen en ontwikkelingslanden zich om de CO2-uitstoot te verminderen."
De klok, die aangeeft hoe dicht de mensheid zich bij totale vernietiging bevindt, geeft het aantal minuten voor middernacht weer, waarbij middernacht een kernoorlog voorstelt. De klok stond bij de introductie in 1947 op 7 minuten voor middernacht. De laatste keer dat ze verzet werd, was in 2007. Toen werd ze twee minuten naar voor gezet, naar vijf minuten voor middernacht, na de nucleaire ambities van Iran en een nucleaire test door Noord-Korea.
Bron Hln
History van clock is als volgt..:
ear Mins Left Time Change Reason
1947 7 11:53pm — The initial setting of the Doomsday Clock.
1949 3 11:57pm −4 The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.
1953 2 11:58pm −1 The United States and the Soviet Union test thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another. (This is the clock's closest approach to midnight since its inception.)
1960 7 11:53pm +5 In response to a perception of increased scientific cooperation and public understanding of the dangers of nuclear weapons.
1963 12 11:48pm +5 The United States and Soviet Union sign the Partial Test Ban Treaty, limiting atmospheric nuclear testing.
1968 7 11:53pm −5 France and China acquire and test nuclear weapons (1960 (Gerboise Bleue nuclear test) and 1964 (596 nuclear test) respectively), wars rage on in the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and Vietnam.
1969 10 11:50pm +3 The U.S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1972 12 11:48pm +2 The United States and the Soviet Union sign the SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1974 9 11:51pm −3 India tests a nuclear device (Smiling Buddha), SALT II talks stall.
1980 7 11:53pm −2 Further deadlock in US-USSR talks, increase in nationalist wars and terrorist actions.
1981 4 11:56pm −3 Arms race escalates, conflicts in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Poland add to world tension.
1984 3 11:57pm −1 Further escalation of the arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
1988 6 11:54pm +3 The U.S. and the Soviet Union sign treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces, relations improve.
1990 10 11:50pm +4 Fall of the Berlin Wall, dissolution of Iron Curtain sealing off Eastern Europe, Cold War nearing an end.
1991 17 11:43pm +7 United States and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. (This is the clock's earliest setting since its inception.)
1995 14 11:46pm −3 Global military spending continues at Cold War levels; concerns about post-Soviet nuclear proliferation of weapons and brainpower.
1998 9 11:51pm −5 Both India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons in a tit-for-tat show of aggression; the United States and Russia run into difficulties in further reducing stockpiles.
2002 7 11:53pm −2 Little progress on global nuclear disarmament; United States rejects a series of arms control treaties and announces its intentions to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; concerns about the possibility of a nuclear terrorist attack due to the amount of weapon-grade nuclear materials that are unsecured and unaccounted for worldwide.
2007 5 11:55pm −2 North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon[5], Iran's nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia.[6] Some scientists assessing the dangers posed to civilization have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.[7]
2010 6 11:54pm +1 Wordwide cooperation to reduce nuclear arsenals and pledges to limit climate-changing gas emissions.