What does Doomsday Clock 2022 being set at 100 seconds from midnight mean?

The Doomsday Clock, a symbol that represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe, is as close as it has ever been to midnight – 100 seconds. This means, amid the ongoing nuclear risks, COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and technological advancements, the world is dangerously close to destruction. 

According to the Doomsday Clock announcement made Thursday in Washington, D.C, the clock remains closer to destruction than at any point since it was created in 1947.

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Explaining the metaphor, 2022 Doomsday Clock said that the “decision does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilized. On the contrary, the clock remains the closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment.”

The clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The nonprofit organisation ‘concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity’, was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.

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The closer the clock is to midnight, the more danger we’re in, according to the Bulletin. Midnight stands for apocalypse. The clock uses imagery, a countdown, to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.

The President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Rachel Bronson, said that the clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet.

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“We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.”

The clock is set every year, deciding whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or farther from destruction. 

 “It conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,” according to the group.