The Ukraine conflict and last summer’s US and Israeli attack on Iran have moved humanity closer to disaster, nuclear scientists have warned
FILE PHOTO: The Doomsday Clock. © Getty Images / Anna Moneymaker
[RT] Humanity
is closer to a global catastrophe than ever, a leading group of atomic
scientists has said. The international community is facing a wide range
of threats from a “full-blown arms race” to climate change and even AI-designed pathogens, the group warned on Tuesday.
The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists adjusted its Doomsday Clock to 85
seconds to midnight, moving it five seconds forward to reflect the
group’s assessment of the growing danger. The clock is updated each
January.
The latest adjustment was prompted by what the group called “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic” policies of major powers that have turned the competition between them into a “full-blown arms race.” Conflicts involving nuclear powers also set the “negative trends”
of the past year, the scientists said, mentioning the continued
hostilities in Ukraine, as well as the US and Israeli attacks on Iran
among the sources of instability.
The group criticized US plans to develop the Golden Dome missile
defense system advocated by President Donald Trump, saying it is likely
to fuel a new “space-based arms race.” They also warned that
the Russian-American New START Treaty is about to expire, leaving Moscow
and Washington without any arms control agreements, and urged both
nations to “resume dialogue about limiting their nuclear arsenals.”
The scientists also said the international response to the “climate emergency” has gone from “wholly insufficient to profoundly destructive,” and accused the Trump administration of declaring “war on renewable energy.”
The group also named some of the more exotic reasons to worry, such as“mirror life”
– cells composed of chemically-synthesized molecules that are
mirror-images of those found in nature. Such organisms could get out of
control, wiping out humanity and “disrupting all life on Earth,” they warned.
The development of artificial intelligence poses a “different sort of biological threat,” the bulletin said, adding that AI could be used to design new bacteria and viruses.
The Doomsday Clock was moved forward ten seconds in 2023 and by just one in 2025.