From NewsMax.com:
The keepers of the “Doomsday Clock” plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world.
The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, currently is set at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight marking global catastrophe.
The group did not say in which direction the hands would move. But in a news release previewing an event next Wednesday, they said the change was based on “worsening nuclear, climate threats” to the world.
“The major new step reflects growing concerns about a ‘Second Nuclear Age’ marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing ‘launch-ready’ status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks,” the release reads.
Looks like the Lifeboat Foundation isn’t the only organization that notices the threat increasing, but it is one of the few that sees beyond the nuclear and climatic threat to future threats of much greater magnitude.
They might want to move it at least another minute towards midnight since the Chinese are developing (and testing) antisatellite weapons. If we were suddenly deprived of the surveillance, navigation, or command and control provided by our satellite fleet, we’d have to make hard decisions with insufficient information — and might assume the worst.