For nearly 80 years, the Doomsday Clock has served as a chilling symbol of humanity's proximity to catastrophe. Now, it has been reimagined—blending traditional craftsmanship with AI and 3D printing to create a striking new design that makes its grim warning impossible to ignore.
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For nearly 80 years, the Doomsday Clock has served as a chilling symbol of humanity's proximity to catastrophe. Now, it has been reimagined—blending traditional craftsmanship with AI and 3D printing to create a striking new design that makes its grim warning impossible to ignore.
Juan Noguera, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, worked with The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and RISD Professor Tom Weis on this historic project, unveiled at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
Created 78 years ago, the time is set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board. On Jan. 28, the redesigned clock was unveiled and set to 89 seconds to midnight during an annual event at the United States Institute of Peace. This moves the clock one second forward, the closest the clock has ever been to midnight, according to AP News.
Representatives from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists contacted Altimeter Design Group about the redesign of the clock in 2024. The firm has collaborated with several esteemed national and international organizations, including the United Nations, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Naval Postgraduate School.
The designers first met when Noguera was a student at RISD and Weis was his professor. This redesign allowed them to collaborate and use design to underscore an important global message.
Noguera and Weis agreed to combine traditional and modern techniques in the redesign. The clock's base was crafted with traditional woodworking techniques, the body and components of the clock's face were 3D-printed at RIT's Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED), and the pair used a combination of pencil-sketching and artificial intelligence (AI) visualization tools in the ideation process.
The resulting design was more akin to a sculpture than the previous clocks—with the addition of the hand-crafted wooden base and a larger body—and commanded a presence when presented to global audiences.
"We liked the juxtaposition of the traditional wood crafting techniques and the 3D-printed and AI elements. We think it represents what the Bulletin is trying to communicate," said Noguera. "We know that the world is changing, but we can't forget about what happened in the past because we need to learn from it."
While the "Doomsday Clock" symbol is far from positive, Noguera shared that he and Weis leaned into optimism when working on the project. The pair designed the new clock to be modular, attaching the text and hands on the clockface with magnets and providing additional letters and numbers.
"I think everyone hopes that the clock changes and that, instead of being seconds from midnight, we can move back to minutes," said Noguera. "Hopefully, they can use those other numbers and letters that are now in their toolset in the future."
The clock is set to be displayed at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' office in Washington, D.C.
"Reimagining such a powerful symbol, one that has resonated for decades as a measure of existential risk, was both a privilege and a challenge," said Weis in a collaborative artist's statement. "This redesign goes beyond mere aesthetic enhancements; it reaffirms our responsibility as designers to engage with both the past and the future, to wield technology judiciously, and to create things that not only serve as objects of design, but also convey narratives of adaptability, resilience, and hope."
Go to the Bulletin's YouTube to watch the full press conference.
Media Contact
Felícia Swartzenberg, Rochester Institute of Technology, 585-465-3852, [email protected], www.rit.edu
SOURCE Rochester Institute of Technology
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