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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/09/doomsday-clock-ai-iran-ukraine-war-climate-breakdown-nuclear-apocalypse>
"The Earth is getting hotter. Conflicts are raging, in the Middle East and
Ukraine, each increasing the chance of nuclear war. AI is infiltrating almost
every aspect of our lives, despite its unpredictability and tendency to
hallucinate. Scientists, tinkering in labs, risk introducing new, deadly
pathogens, more destructive than Covid. Our pandemic response preparedness has
weakened. The Doomsday Clock – a large, quarter clock with no numbers, keeps
ticking, counting down the seconds until the apocalypse. Tick. Tick. Tick. In
January, we reached 85 seconds to midnight. Experts believe humanity has never
stood so close to the brink.
“What we have seen is a slow almost sleepwalk into increasing dangers over the
last decade. And we see these problems growing. We see science advancing at a
rate that defies our ability to understand it, much less control it,” says
Alexandra Bell, CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the organisation
that sets the Doomsday Clock. She speaks of the “complete failure in
leadership” in the US and other countries, which are doing little to address
global, catastrophic threats, even as they feed into one another. Climate
change increases global conflict, for instance, and the incorporation of AI
into nuclear decision-making is, frankly, terrifying."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
