On January 30th from 10:35 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – This report was sure to attract a lot of media attention:
For the second year in a row, scientists are keeping the symbolic time until the earth collapses at 90 seconds. The US non-profit organization “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” recently announced this in Washington. The “criss-cross” two-part series “How much time does the world have left?” by Dirk van den Berg and Pascal Verroust tells the story of this “Doomsday Clock” on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, from 10:35 p.m. on ORF 2, which is based on scientific Dates represent a time in relation to the irreparable end of humanity. The core idea of the Doomsday Clock is similar to the idea of religious-apocalyptic literature: scientific data represents a time in relation to the irreparable end of humanity and the world, from which we should recognize how close we are to the self-made threats (nuclear weapons, Climate change, disinformation) have brought us to this end. Behind what at first glance appears to be a gloomy warning is their conviction that we can continue to believe in our future: because problems created by people can be fixed by people.
Part 1:
Just a few days after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Shocked by the political and military use of her research, her goal was to draw public attention to the threats to humanity’s survival posed by nuclear weapons. To illustrate this, the Bulletin created the “Doomsday Clock” in 1947: a doomsday clock whose hands have been reset every year since. In 2023, the clock was set to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been. The nuclear threat has not been averted; new dangers have emerged. Nevertheless, the Bulletin remains optimistic and true to its principle formulated in 1945: “To introduce the public to a comprehensive understanding of the scientific, technological and social problems that man-made technology poses to humanity.” Directors Dirk van den Berg and Pascal Verroust analyze how the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” operates at the interface of science, technology, politics and society – and how it is necessary and possible today, as it was eight decades ago, to make scientific solutions politically implementable.
Part 2:
In part two, Dirk van den Berg focuses on the consequences of climate change and asks how much time humanity still has left, given this challenge, to maintain planet Earth as a humane living space – in peace and security. How much optimism is appropriate in this crisis and whether there is hope is shown in Part 2 of the “criss-cross” two-part series “How much time does the world have left” from 11:20 p.m.