The Doomsday Clock is virtual, this is just a graphic on the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website
The so-called Doomsday Clock was not translated this year. Just as the hands were at the “ninety seconds to nuclear midnight” mark, so they remained. But there is also something new: a new threat to humanity has been named. This is Artificial Intelligence.
The Doomsday Clock is virtual, it’s just a graphic on the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website.
It was first published (on paper, of course) in 1947. Then the arrows showed 23:53. Why so many at once? Because the artist who painted the clock thought it would be more sensational.
Nuclear midnight, of course, is the death of humanity. But it seems that the time has come to change the name to “AI Midnight”.
This time, American scientists rather confusingly explained why they did not move the dial closer to nuclear midnight 2024: such a decision does not at all mean that the threat has passed; On the contrary, it is “a stern warning to leaders and citizens.” worldwide.”
The last time the needles moved significantly after the start of the Northern Military District in Ukraine. Now Washington has exhausted its possibilities to help Kiev, so American nuclear scientists decided not to aggravate the situation once again.
But in addition to the familiar rhetoric that the main problem is Russia and its nuclear weapons, that Iran is “about to make its own bomb,” and that North Korea generally does what it wants, something new has emerged. Fear of Artificial Intelligence.
First, nuclear scientists believe, AI can create biological and other weapons the likes of which the world has never seen before. And start a nuclear war on your own. The lesser evil, God forbid, will produce disinformation on all fronts.
Fortunately, these gloomy predictions, scientists admit, are simply a reason to think once again about the future of humanity. So far it has somehow worked.
