Is world closer to the end? As Doomsday Clock moves nearer to midnight, a year into Trump’s term

The Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical measure of how close humanity is to destroying the world through technologies of its own making, especially nuclear weapons, stands at 85 seconds to midnight as of January 27, having moved four seconds closer. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the clock at the start of the Cold War, announced on Tuesday that it has advanced by four seconds compared with a year ago, bringing it closest to a global catastrophe in its history.

The announcement comes as Donald Trump, who often describes himself as the president of peace, completed one year in the White House of his second term. The first year of Trump's presidency is marked by shattering norms, withdrawing from established multilateral organisations, ordering unilateral actions abroad and deploying massive force at home, even after opposition from local authorities.

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Major powers such as Russia, China, the United States and others have "become increasingly aggressive, adversarial and nationalistic," said a statement announcing the clock shift, concluded after consultations with a board that includes eight Nobel laureates, AFP reported.

"Hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation critical to reducing the risks of nuclear war, climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, the potential threat of artificial intelligence and other apocalyptic dangers."

The Doomsday Clock board cautioned against increased risk of a nuclear arms race after the "New START" nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia set to expire next week without a sign of renewal. "For the first time in over half a century, there will be nothing preventing a runaway nuclear arms race," Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago physicist who chairs the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, told a virtual news conference, as quoted by AFP.

The board voiced its concerns about Donald Trump's threats to resume nuclear testing and push a costly 'Golden Dome" missile defence system, which is expected to further militarise space. It also raised alarm over Trump's ICE crackdown in Minnesota, noting "History has shown that when governments become unaccountable to their own citizens, conflict and misery follow."

What is the Doomsday Clock?

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic "design" created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (including former members of the Manhattan Project). It serves as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the world through technologies of its own making.

Midnight: Represents the theoretical point of "annihilation" or global catastrophe.

Who sets it? The Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, a group of global experts in nuclear technology and climate science, in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 9 Nobel Laureates.

The Scale: It began at 7 minutes to midnight in 1947. Its "safest" point was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, following the end of the Cold War.

However, the clock is not a tool to predict the future; it acts as a call to action. The bulletin underlined that the hands can be moved back if world leaders act responsibly and embrace diplomacy to solve conflicts and work towards the climate issues the world is facing.