Zombsday Clock Advances to 66 Seconds to Midnight

By Bulletin Staff

The threat of a zombie apocalypse is higher than at any time since the end of the Cold War, the Bulletin of the Zombie Scientists warned this week as the group advanced its Zombsday Clock to 66 seconds to midnight.

The Zombsday Clock, set by the Science and Apocalypse Committee of the Bulletin (SACoBull), is widely recognized as the most accurate indicator of humanity’s vulnerability to a widescale zombie virus outbreak. Midnight on the so-called Z-Day Clock represents a state of uncontrolled outbreak threatening the extinction of all human life on Earth.

“With inflamed tensions or outright conflict in multiple hotspots, the increasing use of artificial intelligence in bioresearch, the ongoing climate crisis and rising distrust of science, we believe that humanity stands closer to the brink of a zombie catastrophe than we have for nearly 40 years,” the Bulletin said in its latest Zombsday Clock statement.

Zombie Virus Weaponization

In advancing the Z-Day Clock from 69 seconds to 66 seconds to midnight, SACoBull said that the international community has failed to check the ongoing weaponization of the zombie virus while creating conditions in which a mass undead outbreak is more likely, either as a result of a conflict between nations or a terrorist attack.

The committee cited Russia’s use of zombie troops in Ukraine; the collapse of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Dezombification (JCPOD), known as the Iran zombie virus deal; and the Trump Administration’s loosening of controls on the export of the undead to zones of conflict as contributing to the rising risk of a catastrophic zombie virus outbreak.

AI Dangers

SACoBull also pointed to new challenges associated with artificial intelligence, noting that major AI developers have announced the creation of tools to accelerate biological research. The Bulletin believes that, without adequate regulation, these new tools could be used to develop more dangerous zombie virus variants.

“Bioterrorists could use generative AI to iterate millions of combinations of zombie virus genes to find new strains that spread more easily, cause more rapid zombification of infected individuals and create more aggressive undead,” the Bulletin said in its statement.

Climate Change Risks

The failure of governments around the world to take decisive action to slow, let alone reverse, the impacts of climate change further exacerbates the risk of a catastrophic zombie outbreak, according to the zombie scientists.

The Bulletin’s statement pointed to the increasing number of zombie outbreaks linked to the thawing of the Alaskan tundra as temperatures rise in the Far North, as well as the growing threat of climate change-linked wildfires that drive sudden, unusual migrations of undead herds.

Rising Distrust

Finally, SACoBull highlighted the public’s declining confidence in scientists as another factor contributing to the rising risk of zombie apocalypse, citing a Pew Research survey released at the beginning of the year showing that trust in the scientific community remains at levels lower than before the COVID pandemic.

“While trust in zombie scientists has typically been at higher levels than for the broader scientific community, we fear that the continued erosion of confidence in science is creating broader space in the public discourse for uninformed, even dangerous, voices that make it more difficult to prevent or respond to zombie virus outbreaks,” the Bulletin said.

Path Back from the Brink

Even as the Bulletin moved the Z-Day Clock closer to midnight, the group pointed to various actions that it said could pull humanity back from the brink of a zombie disaster:

• The world’s major powers can revive talks to limit the use of zombies in conflicts, impose stricter controls on the proliferation of zombie-related technologies, and establish a moratorium on research into the weaponization of the zombie virus.
• Leading AI developers can work with government agencies tasked with regulating artificial intelligence to ensure that new models include guardrails against the creation of zombie super-viruses.
• The climate science community can continue to publicize research showing the impact of climate change on the risks associated with zombie outbreaks and the potential for a zombie apocalypse.
• Zombie scientists must expand public outreach efforts to ensure the public has relevant, timely and accurate information about the undead, zombie virus outbreaks and the risk that a zombie apocalypse could end all human life on Earth.

“Even as we move the Zombsday Clock closer to midnight,” SACoBull said, “it is never too late to find a path back from the brink of Zombageddon.”

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