Short Stuff: Tick tock goes the Doomsday Clock | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh. There's Chuck. And we're sitting. in for Jerry, who usually sits in for. Dave. So, yeah. Let's go. Let's go. Uh, this is Well, it's a follow-up to our. Doomsday Clock episode, but it turns out. we didn't do a Doomsday Clock episode. I. know we've talked about this, so it. might have been in one of when we were. doing videos years ago. I think it was. probably in one of those, but I know for.

a fact the only reason I would have. known about this is because of this job. and and you that makes me feel good that. I wasn't completely unaware that we had. done an episode on doomsday clocks. Doomsday clock. It popped up in some. place. But what's the doomsday clock, Josh? So the doomsday clock is a. metaphorical clock that is um operated. or overseen by the bulletin atomic. scientists which was a group of. scientists who had worked on the. Manhattan project. Um they got together.

and they said we need to create a group. that is going to basically keep an eye. on this nuclear proliferation that's. starting up. And one of the things they. did in 1947 was create the doomsday. clock. Um, and it essentially is this. um I guess it's a graphic representation. of how close humanity is to. self-inflicted disaster like a nuclear. nuclear war. Perfectly said. Elegantly. said.

Yeah. So, uh, like you said, been around. since 1947. Uh, they set the time every. year. It's sort of a thing where they. say like, "All right, the time for this. year is going to be this." Uh would they. move it forward if something really went. down within a year? I think they do it. every year. So like in January they said. it and if like four months later like. the S goes down, they wouldn't be like. they'd be like no got to wait till next. year. Well, I think two things would. happen. Either it would be something. that they would take into account the.

next year. Yes. Or the world would end. and they wouldn't have anything to do. anyway. Okay. Uh but again um we're. talking about it this year because there. was a and you know we'll talk about a. little bit how it's fluctuated over the. years but the reason we bring it up is. because this year January 28th 2025 is. when they moved the second hand on the. clock forward to 89 seconds to midnight. Yeah. Which means it's the closest that. clock has ever been to midnight since. they started. Yeah. since they started.

or when they started in 1947 when the US. and Russia were starting the Cold War. creating nukes testing nukes out in the. open underground in space that was 7. minutes to midnight. We're now less than. two minutes away from midnight because. stuff is just so close to hitting the. fan. And um we should say that they've. actually moved the clock backward uh. they've moved the second hand backwards. further away from midnight in the past.

And the furthest away it was from. midnight was 1991 after the Soviet Union. dissolved. Uhhuh. It was all the way. back from 17 minutes to midnight, which. is I think I think that's called tiki. time. Yeah. It's like bust out the rum, everybody. Exactly. We're all We got 17. minutes. Yeah. Uh the closest pre this. time in 2025 was in. 1953. Uh it was 2 minutes before. midnight. So we are 89 seconds till.

midnight and the closest previous was 2. minutes. So that's you know it's pretty. drastic and and again you know I guess. we can go ahead and mention one of the. criticisms of this is that it's it's. something that just gins up uh some the. critics will say it's something that. just gens up uh paranoia in people and. like pushes the panic button. and what. is it even doing? But what it's doing, I. I think it's a valuable thing because it. just raises awareness every year with. people. Um it's just another thing to. kind of say, hey, like we're not headed. in the right direction uh as humanity.

goes. Yeah. So um the first editor of. the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was. Eugene Rabininoich. And Eugene. Rabininoich said that the purpose of the. doomsday clock is to quote frighten men. into rationality. Yeah. and to basically. say like, "Hey, you know, this this is. we're this stuff's out of control, people. You need to be paying attention. to these things." Because they don't. just say, "Uh, we're 89 seconds from. midnight. See you next year." They. explain what the what their reasoning is. for moving or even not moving or moving.

back the second hand. And this year. being 89 seconds the closest we've ever. been, they had a whole crop of issues um. that go well beyond the nuclear risk. that was originally the the clock was. originally designed to track. And I say. we take a break and we come back and. talk about why we're so close to. midnight right now according to the. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. [Music].

[Music]. All right, everyone. We're back. We're. 80 seconds to midnight. Uh, not 10. minutes to midnight like Charles Brunson. was in that great movie. What was it called? 10 Minutes to. Midnight. Yeah. You didn't see that one?

No. You should check that out. It's got. a couple of uh choice scenes. It's about. a creepy uh serial killer that he's he's. chasing. Oh, Bronson's not the creepy. serial killer. He's being chased by a. creepy dude. Charles Bronson is always. the guy on the hunt for the bad guy. Have you ever seen Deathwish three where. like the group of cops is taking over. the neighborhood? Yeah. All the Death. Wish movies, I mean, the first one was. genuinely pretty good, but they got. really sort of over the top after a. while. Yeah, it was good though. That's.

good. You got the Death Wish, pal. This. is my favorite impression to do, by the. way. I can't wait till you get your. Morgan Freeman down. Oh, no. I don't. think so. Uh, all right. So, how do we. get 80 89 seconds to midnight? Um, this. comes direct from the bulletin website. Uh, some we can kind of summarize. A few. of these I'm just going to read outright. because it's so like sort of expertly. put. Uh but the first thing is um the. ongoing war in Ukraine and the and not. just that but the nuclear risk therein.

involved uh in the third year of that. conflict that um you know hopefully it. doesn't go that way. It it maybe things. are wrapping up but at the peak of this. thing like any weird bad decision could. have led to something like that. happening. Yeah. Same with the Middle. East right now. Um the the that can. spiral out of control and suck in. nuclear powers against one another. That's a nuclear risk for sure. And then. um we're back to increasing the size of. our nuclear arsenals, which is a reverse.

of what we were doing in the 80s and. 90s. Yeah. Where we were getting rid of. them. That's not a good sign. And then. one other thing too, and this is. definitely new. Countries that hadn't. had nukes before were basically like, well, we're never going to have nukes. because that's just not the way things. are. It's changed geopolitically and now. countries are starting to think about. developing their own nuclear programs. where if you have more countries with. more nukes, you have that much more. risk. Yeah, for sure. Uh, climate change.

is the next thing they have listed. Um, and you know, this one kind of speaks. for itself. we don't need to beat a dead. horse. But their their take basically is. that global greenhouse gas emissions are. still rising. No one is doing enough to. combat this. This is bringing on extreme. weather and climate changed uh events. and uh or climate change influence. events and it's affecting people all. over the world and uh even if we're. growing things like solar and wind, it's. just not fast enough and not nearly.

enough to to make a dent in the damage. that's being done, right? Uh, also. there's um the biological arena as they. put it. Oh boy, this one is very scary. That's the most mucousy arena. Yeah. But. obviously coming out of of co. uh and with aven the aven flu now. expanding, you know, to uh farm animals, to dairy products, human cases, uh all. this stuff is is very scary. And and the. point of this episode isn't to scare the.

crud out of everybody. No. But it's hard. to read the stuff and not get the crud. scared out of you sometimes. Yeah. Uh. also don't leave AI on the sidelines in. their disruptive technology part. They. were like like yes AI they didn't get. into the existential threat that AI. itself pose. They more looked at it like. hey some militaries are starting to. incorporate AI in their um like. battlefield decision making. like we're. a step away from AIs deciding whether to.

kill or not kill and then eventually. giving AIs control over our nuclear. arsenals. That's not a direction we want. to be going. And then the whole thing, this is the reason why all these things. that have been around for a while or. have been developing for a while have. been accelerated to 89 seconds from. midnight because of the threat. multiplier of misinformation and. disinformation and conspiracy theories. Yeah. And this is the one I wanted to. read a part or two from this uh because.

it just kind of speaks volumes. I think. they really they really put it very. succinctly. Uh spread of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. that degrade the communication ecosystem. increasingly blur the lines between. truth and falsehood. And then they talk. about AI making it even, you know, we've. talked about deep fake video and stuff. like that, like making all that stuff. just so much easier. Uh and then uh this. final line is really, really good. Uh. the battered information landscape is. also producing leaders who discount. science and endeavor to suppress uh free.

speech and human rights, compromising. the factbased public discussions that. are required to combat the enormous. threats facing the world. So, like all. of the problems that we've been listing. are bad enough and then when you've got. disinformation and conspiracy theories. and misinformation thrown on top of that. and AI exacerbating all that, that's. when it's like they're they're moving. that clock as close to midnight as. they've ever been. Yeah. And the reason. why is because people would be under.

that circumstance, they're being led. away from paying attention to the stuff. the doomsday clock is is waring against. And that just makes it that much. riskier, too, because we have to be. paying attention to it whether you like. it or not. Um, for some reason when I. was researching this today, I was like, "This is striking me as a little. ridiculous." And um, I like I get the. point of it and I think it is noble and. worthy, but there's also some like real. um, I don't know, real criticisms of it.

And I found one um piece by a guy named. Stephen Johnson on Lifehacker and um he. interviewed uh Lawrence Krauss who's a. physicist and a member of the Bulletin. of Atomic Scientists. Sorry, the New. Republic interviewed Krauss and he said. it's not scientific. It's a number. that's arrived at by a group of people. who are exploring each of the questions. then having a huge amount of discussion. and ultimately convergence on a number. and that number is frankly arbitrary and. that's true. the you have to remember.

it's a metaphor. There's no way to. measure it. Okay, if we're 89 seconds. from midnight right now, how much longer. is the world going to last? Yeah. And. the big problem with it, I think, is. um National Geographic put it, if. everything's a crisis, nothing's a. crisis. So, before the whole thing was. created to say this one thing, nuclear. proliferation, this is what we're. warning about. Now you got climate. change, AI, um aven flu, disinformation.

It's just like being piled on and I. think it's it's really um diluted the. the point and the pointedness of the. whole thing. Yeah, maybe. But that's. also the world we're living in right. now. Yeah, but it makes it so easy to. just be like, "Oh, well, I give up. I'm. going to just go pay attention to I. don't know, flowers versus zombies." Do. people play that still? I didn't know. that was a thing. I think it was at some. point unless I had a fever dream. Uh. well, you didn't have a fever dream. One.

thing, whether or not you agree with uh. the doomsday clock or not, one thing we. can I can recommend because you're too. humble to is a little limited podcast. series called The End of the World with. Josh Clark. That way you can really. learn something and take a deep dive. into real existential threats that face. humanity. Thanks, Chuck. I appreciate. that. Holds up. still great. I imagine I. haven't gone back and listened to it. again. I bet it still holds up though. Yeah. Well, because one of the number. one rules in show business is leave them.

wanting more. I say short stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].