Doomsday clock 2018 live: Scientists reveal how much closer we are to nuclear armageddon
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Your support makes all the difference.Scientists are about to announce just how doomed we are.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which controls the clock, is hosting its annual update today. Various luminaries will reveal how close to "midnight" they believe us to be; the closer we are, the higher the chance of global annihilation.
We are getting close to being in more danger than ever before. And scientists could well say today that we are at the most dangerous point ever recorded since the clock began.
The threat of nuclear Armageddon still hovers over the Earth. But it has also been accompanied by other threats, which the scientists now consider – including the looming danger of climate change, and the failure of politicians to tackle it.
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"What we need is evidence-based policymaking; not policy-based evidence making."
If politicians aren't doing enough, then Krauss offers a plea to people. "You need to take the lead," he says; the clock can move back, and it might rely on people for that to happen.
A member of the press asks whether there was one big event that brought the clock forward. There wasn't, the scientists say, but the nuclear situation was the big concern: in recent years, they have talked about a range of factors including climate change and new technology, but the discussion this year mostly focused on the threat of nuclear war.
Why news about the Kardashians more important than the threat of nuclear annihilation? asks a member of the press.
Well, it's very hard to talk about our impending death, the Bulletin says. It's much easier to talk about have opinions on the Kardashians.
That's the power of the Doomsday Clock. It gives us a simple way of talking about these things.
Response from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year:
“The actions and policies of the nuclear-armed states are winding the Doomsday Clock towards midnight. We have been lucky to avoid conflict through intentional or accidental means, but recent posturing and the false alarms in Hawaii and Japan show our luck is about to run out if we don’t move quickly. A security based on luck is reckless and foolish; it’s exactly what the nuclear states have now. 122 nations voted for the nuclear ban Treaty and other nations need to join the process so we can stop flirting with our own destruction and destroy the Doomsday Clock once and for all.”
- Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of ICAN
And that's all! Thanks for joining. For a full round-up of the announcement, head here www.independent.co.uk/news/science/doomsday-clock-2018-live-latest-update-midnight-minutes-trump-tweets-nuclear-war-a8177816.html
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