What is the scientists' Doomsday Clock about?

The Doomsday Clock is not a machine but a symbol. Experts move its hands by hand closer to twelve o’clock or further away, depending on how close they judge the world to be to a nuclear catastrophe.

The so-called Doomsday Clock is not an invention in the technical sense. It does not run on clockwork. It is as simple as a child’s clock whose hands you set with your fingers.

What matters is who moves the hands. They are respected scientists and other experts who follow world affairs closely. In times of great tension they consider how close mankind stands to the ultimate catastrophe, a nuclear war. If they judge the danger to be greater, they move the minute hand closer to twelve. If the situation eases, they move it back. The clock is a picture of a judgement made by human minds.

The hour hand always stays close to twelve. In this way the experts are saying that the hour for mankind is already near in principle. What remains open is how many minutes are left.

The Holy Qur’an also uses such images of time. How long a step is depends on who takes it. A giant takes big steps, a child small ones. When whole nations are concerned, days and hours mean something different from what they mean in the life of one person. The second verse above shows that a day with God can be like a thousand years of our reckoning.

Above all, then, the clock is a warning. The first verse above says the same thing in its own way. Harm comes from what people do, and it is meant to move them to turn back while there is still time.