Could the End of the World be Closer Than We Think?

The hand of the Doomsday Clock was set to 90 seconds before midnight on Tuesday, February 7th, the closest humankind has ever come to self-annihilation. 

The Doomsday Clock is a sign of how close the world is to man-made catastrophes. It’s a metaphor, a reminder of the threats that must be addressed to warn people of how close we could be to the end of the world. Since its inception in 1947, when it was set to seven minutes until midnight, the clock has been reset a staggering 25 times. However, in 2020, when it changed for the first time from minutes to seconds, it caused a stir when it was set to 100 seconds to midnight. 

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and the University of Chicago researchers who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic weapons, created the Doomsday Clock two years later by combining nuclear explosion imagery with the apocalypse and the modern-day countdown to zero. Specifically, the clock focuses on the dangers posed by nuclear warfare, climate change, and biotechnology, highlighting the urgency of the issues facing our world today.

This year Vladimir Putin threatens to deploy a new nuclear weapon and insists on triumph in the war on Ukraine which means we could be sadly entering another year of bloodshed and loss. The United States and the European Union have expressed their support for Ukraine and called on Russia to de-escalate the situation. For now, there is no end in sight for the stalemate between Russia’s invasion of a sovereign Ukraine; the war continues with neither side able to negotiate. The situation is complex and involves a range of political, economic, and military factors, making it difficult to predict how events will unfold in the coming months and years. A year into the war, its main result is that Putin has achieved exactly what he had hoped to prevent from happening. The ongoing conflict has already resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of civilians, and the continued aggression and military buildup in the region raises concerns about the potential for further escalation and global instability. International leaders must find a peaceful resolution to this crisis before it spirals out of control.

In the Doomsday Clock announcement video, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists responded to this tension by moving the clock forward, emphasizing the need for international cooperation to prevent a potential global disaster. The clock was covered with a slick black sheet, and there were two women and three men standing emotionless next to the clock. When the black sheet was pulled down to reveal how close the hands were to midnight, there was an unnervingly long pause and complete silence. The camera then began to zoom in on the clock, allowing this newfound information to settle into the minds of viewers all across the world.

Naturally, this video quickly went viral on social media, sending the nation into a frenzied state and exacerbating everyone’s anxiety. Every year, new apocalyptic predictions make their way through the dark fringes of the internet and tabloid media, causing internet users to worry if these doomsday prophecies could finally come true. TikTok and tweets have also been bombarding users with pages about the world possibly ending, and as a fellow TikToker user myself, I have seen countless videos of people preparing for the apocalyptic end of our beloved world.

Weird natural catastrophes and other issues have been afflicting our planet recently, including two large earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria and left more than 40,000 people dead; at the same time, a second earthquake of 3.8 magnitudes struck the Buffalo region. After the earthquakes, Italy was forced to issue a serious tsunami warning, which has since been withdrawn. A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed from the track in the Ohio village of East Palestine, prompting an evacuation, and environmental concerns are growing as a result of many of these carcinogenic chemicals, which seeped into the soil and freshwater sources. In addition, several asteroids and moving lights have been photographed and displayed everywhere, with many speculating that these peculiar gleaming orbs of light could be a sign of extraterrestrial existence or UFOs.

The FAA reopened a portion of Montana airspace that was abruptly closed to support Department of Defense activities on February 1 after learning that the US and Canada had shot down two unidentified objects over Canada’s Yukon Territory that were ultimately shot down by an American F-22. National security and military officials have been trumpeting the looming threat China poses to the US-led global order for years. The unidentified objects were later identified as Chinese spy balloons, which were most likely benign but may have served as a message to Americans about the threat the Chinese government poses to global order. To top it all off, a survey on the global security outlook for 2023 revealed that 93 percent of cyber leaders and 86 percent of business executives think that geopolitical instability increases the likelihood that a catastrophic cyber event will happen over the next two years. This places it right up to 2025, which means that we could be experiencing a possible global blackout. In light of this, it is more important than ever for countries to come together and form a united front against cyber threats. Governments should be proactive in developing international cyber security protocols to ensure that the world is better prepared to respond to any potential cyber attack. 

As for myself, I fear not only for the future of our planet but also for the future of civilization. Even though the warning signs are so apparent, we continue to ignore them and act so oblivious and ignorant when so much is happening. I had never heard about the Doomsday Clock, and today I feel those to blame are the media because of how heavily censored the topic is. The media plays a crucial role in shaping our perception of the world, and it is their responsibility to inform us about the pressing issues that affect us all. By censoring or downplaying important information, they are doing a disservice to society and contributing to our collective ignorance, and people are not getting the news we need to hear to spark change. The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to a global catastrophe, and it’s alarming that many people are unaware of it. The media has a responsibility to report on issues that have significant implications for our future, and the Doomsday Clock is one such issue. It’s time for the media to prioritize informing the public about critical matters rather than sensationalizing trivial news. 

With all of this happening and being reported on social media websites, as well as news articles, I can’t help but draw a connection to 2012, when the theory that the year 2012 portended a catastrophic event, the end of the world, or the end of human civilization, was discussed in the media. Now, in 2023, we’re reiterating the idea of catastrophic annihilation, but is this just another hoax designed to create global panic, or are we truly drawing closer to the end of the world?