Greetings. Welcome to the Daily Article Podcast for Thursday, January the 25th, 2024.

I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's article by Dr. Ryan Denison.

The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by a group of scientists who were concerned about the impact of nuclear weapons on the world,

considering that many of them, such as Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, had been the

ones to help develop those weapons, their fears were understandable.

Every year since, their organization shifts the time in accordance with how close they

think humanity is to global catastrophe.

This week, it was set at 90 seconds to midnight, matching last year as the closest the clock has ever come to its final mark.

Last year, the group's decision was driven primarily by the fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin would make good on his thinly veiled threats of using

nuclear weapons in his war against Ukraine. And while those fears haven't gone away, this year,

the group seemed more focused on fears that the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel would escalate

beyond those borders, as well as increased concerns over climate change and the advancement

in artificial intelligence.

As such, the official statement from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warns that, quote,

"...leaders and citizens around the world should take this statement as a stark warning

and respond urgently as if today were the most dangerous moment in modern history,

because it may well be."

While the bulletin's sentiment seems a bit hyperbolic, the doomsday clock has been used as a

basic barometer for global angst since its inception. As such, it can be a helpful way of understanding how some of

society's most influential minds see the state of the world. We don't have to agree with them,

but given how many global leaders do, their opinions are worth noting. They're just not necessarily

worth getting too worked up about. You see, the basic premise behind the

...