Submission + - Doomsday Clock to move forward
Dik Zak writes: Several
news
sites
report that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists intend to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock on Wednesday 17 January.
The clock was started at seven minutes to midnight during the Cold War and has been moved forwards or backwards at intervals, depending on the state of the world and the prospects for nuclear war. Midnight represents destruction by nuclear war.
It is not said in which direction the hands of the clock will be moved, but it should be safe to assume that it will be closer to midnight. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists cite "worsening nuclear, climate threats" as the reason for the move.
The clock was at two minutes to midnight, when both the United States and the Soviet Union tested nuclear weapons in 1953. The farthest away from midnight it ever was is seventeen minutes to midnight, in 1991 when both superpowers signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It is currently at seven minutes to midnight.
