In 1953, both the United States and the former Soviet Union had tested their first hydrogen bombs and the Clock moved closer to midnight than it had ever been before: two minutes til.

In addition to the danger of nuclear war and the threat of climate change, the board for the first time noted technology’s role in undoing democracies as a source of concern for our continued existence.

“Technological change is disrupting democracies around the world as states seek and exploit opportunities to use information technologies as weapons, among them internet-based deception campaigns aimed at undermining elections and popular confidence in institutions essential to free thought and global security,” the board wrote, referring to Russia’s likely interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In 2017, the United States backed away from its longstanding leadership role in the world, reducing its commitment to seek common ground and undermining the overall effort toward solving pressing global governance challenges,” the board wrote.

International diplomacy has been reduced to name-calling, giving it a surrealistic sense of unreality that makes the world security situation ever more threatening.”