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A Serious Topic!, July 25, 2008
"The Doomsday Clock" originated in 1947 to communicate atomic scientists' concern over the imminent possibility of these weapons being used. Originally, the time was set at 7 minutes to midnight. Since then the clock's setting has changed 17 times in accordance with the group's assessment of the long-term implications of various significant events. Examples include the U.S. development of the H-bomb, Soviet testing of a nuclear weapon, the October 1956 Suez Crisis, the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (170 Russian warheads in Cuba), the October 1964 Chinese nuclear weapon test, signing of the SALT treaty in 1972, Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, Reagan's 1983 "Star Wars" initiative, India's 1974 A-bomb test, signing of the START treaty, the Pakistani bomb test in 1998, and the North Korean bomb test in 2007.
The clock currently is set at 5 minutes to midnight, reflecting not just concern over possible use of nuclear weapons by the U.S., Russia, and/or terrorists, but global warming as well. Settings over these 41 years have ranged from 2 minutes to midnight to 17.
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