Welcome to the newsletter. Armageddon Edition!!
As the Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock gets closer to Midnight, they issue their final, end-of-the-world newsletter.
Welcome to The Dejargonizer, the newsletter from former Wall Street Journal EMEA tech editor Amir Mizroch. You can read more about the newsletter here. If you like it, please consider subscribing and sharing this post.
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On Tuesday 24 January 2023, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved their Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock is like a giant time bomb counting down to the end of the world. It's a warning to humanity, from some of the world’s smartest people, that we are getting closer and closer to a catastrophic event that could destroy everything we know and love. Nuclear war, climate change, deadly pandemics and new dangerous technologies are all ticking time bombs that could trigger the end of the world. Every time the clock's hands move closer to midnight, it means we are one step closer to the end. When the clock strikes midnight it will be all over for us. Capice?
WIRED’s Ramin Skibba has a great piece on the Doomsday Clock’s 75th anniversary. Check out Ramin’s Substack if you’re interested in space news.
Axios has a good write up on the latest clock move, including this nifty chart.
The closest to midnight that the Doomsday Clock has ever been is 100 seconds to Midnight (2021). Before that it was two minutes in 1953, following the testing of the first thermonuclear weapons by the United States and the USSR. The clock is currently set at 90 seconds to midnight. This is the closest it has ever been to Doomsday. MAZELTOV EVERYONE!
But we can do even better!
What if it was, say, 15 seconds to midnight?
I asked the Atomic Scientists when they thought their final notification would be. They have not yet responded to my request for comment.
In the meantime, I renovated their newsletter in the way that it might be sent, should we get even closer to Midnight (AKA Armageddon) (AKA their final newsletter, end-of- the-world edition).
Welcome to the Armageddon Newsletter!
We’ll meet again. Don’t know where. Don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again. Some sunny day.