Doomsday December 20th 2012...Just a myth or the truth. What do you believe?

[PixieDust_fairy]

((If this isn't considered a debate, I'm sorry. This has just been a subject that's been upsetting me for a longtime and I wanted to know others outputs and arguments on it))

They say that there is a Maya prediction that the world is to end on December 20th, 2012. Some people are going on that it's just a myth, and others are going into depth.

A few stories going into different beliefs of it:
Link 1 (http://www.exitmundi.nl/Maya.htm)
Link 2 (www.exodus2006.com/2012.htm)
Link 3 (www.circlesoflight.com/reality-creation/world-end.html)

So what do you make of these?
Do you think that it's just a bunch of made up stuff, or do you think it's actually going to be the end of everything?

Let the debate begin..

[Faithlove13xxx_SC]

Well, it's true...the Mayan calendar does oddly end that date.

Then again, if the Mayans could really predict the future... wouldn't they have stopped their own demise?

But I do think something might happen that year... maybe not the world end... but some Dramatic change in the world, hopefully for the better.

[PixieDust_fairy]

Well, it's true...the Mayan calendar does oddly end that date.

Then again, if the Mayans could really predict the future... wouldn't they have stopped their own demise?

But I do think something might happen that year... maybe not the world end... but some Dramatic change in the world, hopefully for the better.
I agree.
I also posted something about this on Yahoo answers and people are saying a bunch of stuff about change, perhaps we will just have change for the best :D

In my opinion I just think that they had to end the callender somewhere. I mean why would they keep writing it for years upon years on end just so that they could keep a callender running until the end of the world.

I heard the maya callender works in circles, once it ends it begins again. Maybe we'll have a new great fresh start on something...maybe when they ended the callender there they didn't nessisarily mean for it to be "the end of the world" perhaps people are just misinterperting it into that.

The only thing that bugged me most is that they're writing all these different documents on how that's going to be doomsday, I even heard that my friend watched a documentry in it in his World Cultures class...which kind of made me more upset..why did they have to make a movie about something they don't know is 100% true?

[FurryPanda]

I think it means... absolutely nothing.
Self annointed seers have claimed the end of life as we know it throughout history, and just because this seer happens to be a culture with no universal education does not change that status. And every time, they have been wrong. Why should this time be right? They ahve math? Big deal, so have all the famous ones from the publication of the principia (mid1800s). I'm not buying it.

[Zak_SC]

The Maya divided their Long Count into five lumps of time, called Great Cycles. And every cycle had a well defined end. For example, after period number one, a Jaguar came by and ate everyone on Earth.

Unless I get some scientific evidence that the end of period one, and the end of all the other periods actually happened, I'm not believing it. The Maya were great astronomers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're right about the end of the world.

[hszmv]

I'd put more stock in the government working with extraterrestrials then the Mayan calender (which happens to run on cycle, which will be completed and restarted in 2012.).

Anyone can predict the end of the world. It's correctly predicting it, that has proven tricky. But I promise if it goes down, on December 21 2012, I will give a million bucks to the guy who callED it right. THAT'S HOW CONFIDENT I AM THAT IT WON'T HAPPEN!!!!

[Mishellia]

Don't, oh, god, please. Now I have to start.
With Doomsday, isn't the government just trying to frighten us?
Don't they just want us all wound up and ready for this day?
What if, nothing really would happen, but to mess with us, the government would make some big deal about this day and randomly do a huge scene for the whole world to be afraid...and maybe, they would even tell us that it would be so bad, that we all had to go in underground places and hide, and while the government is shooting air products [chem trails] up in the sky from HAARP Cooperation up in Alaska. Our weird weather? Blame HAARP. Thank you Nicola Tesla for inventing both electricity and this weather machine. And thanks for trying to let us have it for free...Dear god, I'm rambling off.
I'm sure nothing will happen, but were not sure. The Egyptians already new about Planet X...and from them, they know the orbit doesn't go like our solar system, it rotates in the totally opposite way. And in some-how many years, it's going to hit the Earth. Okay, well, from that, the Egyptians knew things that we just recently found out. So maybe these people ended this calendar on purpose, maybe they know something is going to happen...But, is it true? Nobody really knows for sure, I'm 50/50 since, knowing me, my mind goes off in places and I'm stuck between my facts, but the probability of the Earth going under a drastic change. Maybe, on that day, California will break of from the United States? Maybe a drastic weather condition splits up all our continents and scrambles them all up? Who knows. Anything can happen. I'd say, once again, I'm 50/50 on this. It's possible, but than no....and please don't go off on me for not liking our government...I just...don't?

[Doddibot]

They say that there is a Maya prediction that the world is to end on December 20th, 2012.
Didn't the Maya people also think that people were made from corn? I wouldn't trust any silly old religion to predict the future if they can't even know the present correctly.

[robokitty]

Didn't the Maya people also think that people were made from corn? I wouldn't trust any silly old religion to predict the future if they can't even know the present correctly.

Corn is widely fed to all livestock that we consume and present in the most foods we eat as high fructose syrup or other additives. It's even in your toothpaste.

"If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy." (http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/09/22/kd.gupta.column/index.html)


Not that I believe this Mayan doomsday business. People have been singing the end of the world for thousands and thousands of years, so I'll sit back and pass on the doom, gloom, and self-flagellations.

[1306]

Well, no one is sure. The Mayans lived ages before us. And who knew what their culture and beliefs were before. Definitely not like ours today!
But a few conditions may be looked to to confirm this: The rapid warming of the earth. Maybe, just maybe if it gets hot enough by 2012. Then--see you in heaven. Or has anyone thought of meteoroids that may possibly hit the earth? It did a million years ago, it's possible one might hit us again. But it will take more than a few meteoroids to kill the earth.

This is just my opinion, though. I repeat what I first said: No one is sure when the world will end.

[Haylifer]

Love love love this topic!

My opinion on it is kinda.. incredibly complex. But I'll try explain as best as I can.



Nobody can predict the future. At least, we don't think so.. but lets go with Occams Razor and say that being able to see into the future is impossible. But what we CAN do is say "Tomorrow at 3, I'll go to the shops". We are very nearly predicting where we will be at that time tomorrow, and there is a high chance it will happen as we are making a conscious effort to do so. Nobody can predict the world is going to end in 2012, but what if it is already planned out for something to happen in 2012 that has been forgotten about through the years?

The Mayan belief was that the world was created a long time ago by their god. This first world was represented by the first cycle in their calendar. The first world was highly imperfect, and no life formed because it was so harsh and barren. So a new world was made. The second world was more advanced than the first, with trees and small animals. But still, this world was imperfect, so was destroyed. The third world was the closest to our current world now, with humans and other large mammals on it, but it was still imperfect and their god destroyed it. We are currently in the fourth world, and December 21st 2012 marks the end of the fourth cycle and the beginning of the fifth. Will we be destroyed, or just tweaked and changed? Is it to be taken metaphorically as the evolution of life, or is it literal?

Let's assume aliens exist and have visited Earth, a long time ago. That will explain why they haven't been back in such a long while, they've already been here and seeded their knowledge or whatever they wanted to do. Jesus was an alien, Moses was instructed by aliens. Angels, watchers, call them what you will. They're extraterrestrial beings of a higher intelligence than us. What if these Aliens wrote the Mayan calendar for them? What if they gave them the gift of looking at the stars, taught them what they needed to know about everything? And that date, which marks the end of the 4th cycle and beginning of the 5th (final) cycle, is when the aliens have planned their return to Earth to reap what they have sown many years ago. Their intentions could be for good or evil, nobody knows yet, but I certainly believe that this is the date they have wrote about in the Book of Revelations, and any other prophecy that lies in this era. The Pope Prophecy also predicts that we're on our last pope. Coincidence? Who knows?

And just to be clear, 'Apocalypse' doesn't necessarily mean end of all life on Earth. The word Apocalypse can be used to refer to the end in ANY context. The end of old ways, the beginning of something new.. maybe a higher spiritual knowledge or something but probably not the end of the world entirely.

EDIT: Something I forgot about. December 21st 2012 is the Winter Solstice for that year, but also will give us an unique view of the Solar System that is referred to in Mayan Mythology as the 'Sacred Tree' - a phenomenon where the sun eclipses the centre of the Milky Way, which hasn't happened for over 26,000 years. This will be the first time the Sacred Tree view has occured simultaneously with the Winter Solstice.

[Endersgirl07]

Well, no one is sure. The Mayans lived ages before us. And who knew what their culture and beliefs were before. Definitely not like ours today!
But a few conditions may be looked to to confirm this: The rapid warming of the earth. Maybe, just maybe if it gets hot enough by 2012. Then--see you in heaven. Or has anyone thought of meteoroids that may possibly hit the earth? It did a million years ago, it's possible one might hit us again. But it will take more than a few meteoroids to kill the earth.

This is just my opinion, though. I repeat what I first said: No one is sure when the world will end.

I think if global warming was bad enough that we are doomed four years from now because of it, then nobody would still be debating about whether our temperature changes are actually abnormal, and we would have no more winter by now- everywhere would be tropical. And I can tell you that I don't live in a tropical climate (unfortunately).
Also, we have technology that allows us to accurately predict the movement of meteors and other foreign bodies. If there's a meteor on its way to direct impact with the earth, there's a pretty good chance we'd know about it by now (nothing we could do, of course, but at least we'd know).

If there's going to be any world-changing catastrophe to worry about, it would be the long-overdue-to-blow caldera in Yellowstone National Park- which would kill everyone in the northwestern US and part of central US also, and mess up weather patterns everywhere. If I start hearing whispers about that, I'm moving to Europe.

[broo_SC]

I don't believe it. It was supposed to happen so many times before.. But it didn't. And you know what? It can actually happen anyday. It might happen next month, or next week.. Or even tomorrow. I don't think anyone knows the date. So stop counting days to when it is supposed to happen and start living, because you might not have so much time left ;)

[Talon]

I guess the Mayans just got bored.

[kustirider2]

i think its probably nothing but i could be wrong and aliens could visit or something. if it really is doomsday im gonna be sad cos i will only be 18.
i have heard somewhere that the sun is going to 'run out' in about 19 billon years, so were okay

[broo_SC]

i have heard somewhere that the sun is going to 'run out' in about 19 billon years, so were okay
People will probably kill each other off before that anyway :D With all the problems human nation is facing right now I hardly doubt we will last at least 2000 more years.

[davious]

A) if the Mayans were so smart, and could see into the future, they would have taken measures to ensure their own survival..However, they ended up only being mostly smart...they got their calendar wrong anyway.

B) the Mayan calendar itself was inaccurate, had the civilization survived long enough to figure out the inaccuracies, perhaps they would have adjusted their date anyway. IE, their calendar was based on faulty math, therefore the end of their calendar would necessarily have to be based on that faulty math as well, so cannot be trusted.

C) speaking of things that probably can't be trusted, everyone that has ever predicted a date for the end of the world has been wrong...why should the Mayans be any different?

[Safyre420]

i have heard somewhere that the sun is going to 'run out' in about 19 billon years, so were okay


the sun will actually be running out about the time the andromeda galaxy collides with the milky way, which is about 5 billion years.

now as for the mayan prediction, I don't believe it will be the end of the world, but possibly something will happen around then (thankfully it won't be another dubya term and hopefully not a jeb term).

[robokitty]

Let's assume aliens exist and have visited Earth, a long time ago. That will explain why they haven't been back in such a long while, they've already been here and seeded their knowledge or whatever they wanted to do. Jesus was an alien, Moses was instructed by aliens. Angels, watchers, call them what you will. They're extraterrestrial beings of a higher intelligence than us. What if these Aliens wrote the Mayan calendar for them?


I think you just lost Occam's Razor somewhere! :)

[Haylifer]

I think you just lost Occam's Razor somewhere! :)

Lol yes, but aliens are more logical than divine beings. Also, assuming aliens bestowed technology upon us would explain how we go from cavemen sat around bashing rocks for 10,000 years to civilized techno-whizz animals who can even make short trips into space.

I still think its interesting that the calendar end point isn't actually meaningless. They have accurately predicted an extremely rare astrological phenomena (Saced Tree) back in the days when most people didn't even know how the solar system worked, let alone our galaxy. There are definitely higher forces at play here.

[Doddibot]

Lol yes, but aliens are more logical than divine beings. Also, assuming aliens bestowed technology upon us would explain how we go from cavemen sat around bashing rocks for 10,000 years to civilized techno-whizz animals who can even make short trips into space.
Yeah, but because there is no evidence for aliens or divine beings, they are both far too complicated answers (but you are at least right that aliens are less complicated than a God or gods).

More likely, it was some sort of mutation that increased intelligence. At least we know those sort of mutations exist (because they are in our genome at the moment), and had to happen at some stage in our history.

[hszmv]

now as for the mayan prediction, I don't believe it will be the end of the world, but possibly something will happen around then (thankfully it won't be another dubya term and hopefully not a jeb term).

But it could be a Clinton term. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!!one!!!!

Yeah, but because there is no evidence for aliens

Of course, that is assuming that the government isn't covering up Roswell.


Sorry, silly post. It is probably distracting form the seriousness of this conversation[/sarcasm].

[Allison_SC]

Remember when all of those people several centuries ago predicted that the world would end on 1966, or something like that? Well, it didn't, and I don't think it will for a very, very long time. Exactly when the world will end isn't something humans are too good at predicting.

[Haylifer]

It makes me uneasy how all the doomsday prophecies are converging around about now.. There haven't been that many for any time before 1900 that I know of *pessimism*

Personally I blame that huge particle accelerator under the alps. Is it just me who finds it a bit stupid to try recreate the Big Bang? Won't it like, possibly cause a reasonably big bang? Or a mini black hole that turns us all to antimatter. My physics teacher reckons if you go below absolute zero you'll make a black hole. Crazy scientists...

[mayakii]

Come on. This is reported to happen every 3,600 years. What do you think the Egyptians and Mesopotamians did? Nothing happened to them. If this planet was THAT close, we'd see it by now.

On December 21st, 2012, I sure as hell won't be freaking out.
Getting worked up about it is stupid.
Think of how many people committed suicide because of Y2K predictions. And at that thought I shall laugh. Ha. The moral is, don't flip over something this stupid.

[FurryPanda]

I see no reason to worry about it either way. there's 3ways this could turn out that I say.
1) Its all crap, life goes on.
2)Its true, were all gonna die
3)Its true, welcome to the age of aquarius
In the case of option 1, nothing will change, it doesn't matter.
In the case of option 2, we'll all be dead, so who cares?
In the case of option 3, we'll all e ahppy, so what does it matter?

Thus, there's no point in arguing, just go with the flow man :p. :hippy:

[CisteCaise]

First of all, the Maya people aren't extinct! There are over 6 million Maya still around and kicking! :sighs:

This whole "doomsday" business comes from an incomplete understanding of Maya culture (the term "Mayan" is reserved for the language groupings) and calendrical system.

I won't go into all the linguistic and mathematical details here, but the Maya calendar is divided into rounds of cyclical eras. Contrary to common belief, the derived 20 December 2012 date is *NOT* the last date referenced by the Maya; there are several later dates mentioned in various other locations and writings, some even going as far in the future as 4772.

[PixieDust_fairy]

Honestly I don't believe in it, but I wanted to know the outlooks on other people. Because I have multiple friends who are already planning all the stuff they're going to get done before that date, because they believe that it's actually going to be happening.

I myself will have been 21 for only 9 days when this is supposed to occur. I mean I'll be legal age to drink right? My friends are all betting that if this is to occur I'll be using as much of my 21st year as possible. But honestly if this was to happen, why would I want to spend my last days wasted when on the other hand I could spend it with family and friends and accomplish as much as I can the last days I have to live.

I asked a question about this on Yahoo answers to see what other peoples perspectives were outside this wonderful sims community, and I got some really interesting answers back, that made me believe less in the "doomsday" and more into the "changes" here are a few examples of answers I got, and along with the link of my question, so you can read all of them. Here are my 4 favorite answers out of all that I was given.




Answer 1:
The truth is that no man knows when the end of days will come. In fact, only God himself knows that. Even Jesus himself doesn't know, only the Father God.

But don't be beset by fear. Just embrace every day, and enjoy your life while you are still young. Even if the end of the world comes, there are some things that we can't alter or prevent from happening, and we have to have grace and peace about those matters. Just pray for relief from your anxiety.

In the meantime, seize the day- and the night. : )


Answer 2:
I don't really understand where all the fear is coming from. The Mayans Calendar, which is not predicting the end of the world in 2012, but the start of a new era on December 21st, 2012. The year 2012 marks the end of the "Great Cycle." When it came to mathematics, time and calendars, the Maya were geniuses. Believing that time repeated itself in cycles.

Many ancient civilization had predicted apocalypse over thousands of years, from the Book of I Ching to Nostradamus, and the Native Indians to even the Holy Bible all predicted that the world will come to an end. However, we as humankind are still around today waiting for that "doomsday" to happen. All predictions are open for different interpretations, and every few years some lunatic is going to flip through some old pre-historic predictions and exaggerate it based on his/her own interpretations. Once your mind starts to persuade you into thinking that apocalypse is going to happen, you would honestly start to believe that it is really coming


Answer 3:
No, don't worry you'll live longer.

I wasted a month of my life researching that year, and what I came up with as a conclusion was...it's just another year. I could go into detail but it would boar you.

Anyways several predictions about the worlds end have been disproved academically.

1994, 2000, and 2003 were years in which other religious calendars ended, and many people thought the world would have ended on those dates also, but of course nothing happened.

It's a lot of hoopla, nothing to be concerned about.



Answer 4:
Actually, the world did end for the Mayans. Their world ended shortly after the Spanish came. Seriously, where are they now?

When a people or a prophet speaks about the end of the world, it is the world that they know. Keep things in perspective and remember the context of their lives.

In the time of Jesus, his world was the middle east. The Americas had not been discovered yet. No one on his side of the world knew about Greenland, Australia, Anartica or the North Pole.

To include any of those places in pre-Columbian, European predicition of the end of the world is questionable. As for the Mayans, they didn't know about Europe when they made this prediction, so, Europe dosen't count for them.

Also, to set yourself up with an expectation of death in 2012 is not a healthy thing. You could make it a self-fulifiling prophecy by engaging in reckless behavoir that could result in your death from AIDS, drunk driving or plain old reckless abandon.

Besides, on a very pragmatic note, the world will survive. Life as we know it will end one day, but the world was here before there was an oxygen atmoshere to support life. The world will still be here after the sun goes super-nova. The world will survive. Enjoy you life on Earth for the time period you've been given!

If you still think that the world will end in 4 years, wouldn't it be a great thing to get involved and help other people before that happens. All those people who live on the street or in shelters. Wouldn't it be great if you could help them have at least one good happy day before the world ends?


Link To question (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Amrwc37ABVccxGjwj1PnQ3Dsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080323195409AAOrhTc)


Some of those answers, made me honestly believe less that it will be doomsday that day. Even somebody who researched it for a long time didn't even believe in it anymore.

[CisteCaise]

Again, with regards to your Answer #4, PixieDust Fairy, the Maya are STILL around! To act as if the Maya are gone is insulting; they are a living, breathing people with a continuing culture. To suggest otherwise is highly disrespectful.

I also do not think that it's a doomsday thing at all; I just want to correct these highly inaccurate views on the Maya.

[PixieDust_fairy]

I do still believe that the Maya are around.
There are many cultures around that existed a long time ago :D
I just liked the context of what that member wrote

[Daisie]

Hey, um, I don't mean any disrespect for the Maya, but - they are really not still around. Their entire civilization up and disappeared. It's an unexplained historical phenomenon, but it happened. Do your research, guys. :err:

And seriously, there were people who believed the world was going to end on 06/06/06, and did it? No. Why is this - or any other doomsday date - any more believable? The Maya (and again, no disrespect for them) were wrong about other things.

Also, off-topic... *shudders at the thought of Yahoo Answers and runs away* :D

[CisteCaise]

Uh, Daisie, you should be the one doing research. The pre-Colombian civilization of the Maya did not disappear without explanation either.

Try doing a simple google search before you go off spouting such nonsense.

The Maya are still alive and around and its ignorance espoused by people like you that is simply abomidable.

"We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism." — Rigoberta Menchú, 1992

^ This quote is by a Maya Nobel Peace Prize winner.

[Endersgirl07]

There are still a lot of descendants of Maya around. The civilization didn't completely disappear, Daisie- the southern part was abandoned somewhere around the 8th century for unknown reasons, but the Yucatan Maya empire continued to flourish until the Spanish conquered it.

[CisteCaise]

Thank you, endersgirl07! It is wonderful to see that there is someone else who isn't utterly ignorant about such things.

[Daisie]

Racism? Intolerance? I happen to pride myself on not having either trait, thank you very much. :)

Do forgive me, though, for saying that there are not Maya(n?) descendants around anymore, because apparently I was mistaken and there are. I was not mistaken that the civilization itself is gone.

"The Maya civilization is divided into the Pre-Classic (1000 B.C. to A.D. 300), the Classic (A.D. 300 to 900) when the civilization reached its height of development, and the Post-Classic (A.D. 1000 to 1500) when the civilization fell apart and disappeared.

No one knows for certain what caused the disappearance of the Maya. Perhaps it was war, loss of faith, famine or a series of natural disasters."

http://www.mayawalk.com/html/maya.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Maya_collapse

Edit: I'd like to add that I don't mean to offend anyone. This is just the understanding I've had forever - and that I've never seen disproven.

[CisteCaise]

You're talking about the lowland Guatemala Maya civilization. That did "collapse" if you apply the Western methods of studying history. The whole "Pre-Classic," "Classic", and "Post-Classic" distinction thing is actually under debate and reexamination within the archaeological community dealing with Mesoamerica, so forgive me if I get a little snippy and upset.

And the quote was not meant to imply that you, Daisie, are racist or intolerant; I merely felt that Rigoberta Menchú rather exquisitely framed a big issue for the Maya peoples and how they are portrayed.

When on a dig in Guatemala, there was a young Maya girl who was in tears because she was heartbroken to discover that a great portion of the tourists and world thought that she and her people were dead. That positively broke my heart and made me want to educate people about such things (which is why I curated on a Highland Maya Textile Traditions museum last fall).

I'm sorry to have derailed your debate, PixieDust Fairy. I'll back into a corner now and play nice.

[PixieDust_fairy]

I'm sorry to have derailed your debate, PixieDust Fairy. I'll back into a corner now and play nice.


No, no it's completely fine =D. What would a debate be without some offtopic, yet related argument going on. So no worries, it's still connected to the debate, it's now like your fighting over stuff like if cats or dogs are better on this thread.

[Doddibot]

My physics teacher reckons if you go below absolute zero you'll make a black hole. Crazy scientists...
Ridiculous. You can't go below absolute zero at all. Not even a black hole is below absolute zero.

Besides, any mini black hole will just evaporate from the Hawking radiation. Any physicist would know that...

Anyway, let us all get back on topic and start proposing ways in which the Earth could end.

[Freelancer_SC]

Personally I blame that huge particle accelerator under the alps. Is it just me who finds it a bit stupid to try recreate the Big Bang? Won't it like, possibly cause a reasonably big bang? Or a mini black hole that turns us all to antimatter. My physics teacher reckons if you go below absolute zero you'll make a black hole. Crazy scientists... Ridiculous. You can't go below absolute zero at all. Not even a black hole is below absolute zero.
*physicist HAS to interject* It's physically impossible to even REACH absolute zero, let alone go below it. The lowest quantum energy state is nonzero, so there will always be some motion present. And don't be hatin' on CERN. It's the foremost scientific facility in the world. We wouldn't be having this conversation right now if not for what goes on there, seeing as how they invented the internet and all.

Anyway, back to the point of the thread. Oh noes! Doomsday! Whatever shall we do? Attack it with logic, of course...


The Mayans were astrologers. While their measurements of celestial bodies were probably the most accurate of any civilization before modern times, the implications they drew from them were astrological in nature, and thus, complete crap.
"zomg the earth is going to align with the center of the galaxy!!1!" Ummm... yeah. It's doing that right now. You can always draw a straight line between any two points. You need 3 or more points for an alignment. Align with the center of the galaxy aaaaaaaaaand... come on, finish the argument... *waits*
Pretty much every major religion has some sort of apocalypse in their writings, at which time Deity/ies of Choice will lay waste to the sinful world and take their chosen ones to paradise while sending the unfaithful to the fiery inferno, blah blah blah... and seldom has the predicted date of said doomsday coincided from faith to faith. Clearly, they're not all right, are they?
Sort of a continuation of my previous point, but it goes on a slightly different tangent. Suppose "your religion" is the truth and there is an impending doomsday. However, how do you even know someone's interpretation of it is correct? For instance, consider Christian scholars who, using ages given in Genesis, say that Earth (and thus, the whole universe) is 6,000 years old. Obviously, that isn't true. Given the track record, it's pretty likely that they're as correct about the end of the world as they are about the beginning.


Life on Earth has been around a pretty long time, and it's survived some serious stuff. (Forget about the dinosaurs - read up on the Permian extinction if you want to see what a REAL disaster is) The only thing that's likely to end it permanently on this planet is the sun's death.

[Deeney]

Bummer dude I'll just have finished my teaching degree!

[Haylifer]

I hate Vista with a passion. I just accidentally powered off my PC after typing up a huge long speechify thing.. ohhh bah.

*physicist HAS to interject* It's physically impossible to even REACH absolute zero, let alone go below it. The lowest quantum energy state is nonzero, so there will always be some motion present.

I know I near-enough failed my Physics A-level, but.. what about *click (http://www2.corepower.com:8080/~relfaq/neg_temperature.html) *? I have an A Level in Chemistry almost now, enough to understand the jist of what that article is on about.. But anyway, I'm off thread hijacking again :P

The Mayans were astrologers. While their measurements of celestial bodies were probably the most accurate of any civilization before modern times, the implications they drew from them were astrological in nature, and thus, complete crap.

My mother just nearly died from insult :P She's a big believer in paranormal stuff, astrology etc. As a scientist, you can't say that astrology is complete crap. Surely all people who immerse themselves in science go by the rule that even facts themselves are only factual until proven incorrect. So even though it is an eccentric practise, it is at the same time unfalsifiable and possibly astrology draws on some unknown physical phenomena.

"zomg the earth is going to align with the center of the galaxy!!1!" Ummm... yeah. It's doing that right now. You can always draw a straight line between any two points. You need 3 or more points for an alignment. Align with the center of the galaxy aaaaaaaaaand... come on, finish the argument... *waits*

Actually, as you'll find in the Wikipedia article on 2012, the alignment is between the centre of the Milky Way, the Earth and the Sun. What happens is the Earth will have a view of the centre of the Milky Way, as usual.. only the Sun will eclipse the very centre. As you probably know, our solar system sits on one of the arms in the disc of our galaxy, so we can look inwards on the bulge in the centre. What is going to happen will only happen once every 28,000 years. It is curious how the Mayans can predict this when everyone claims they're so useless...

Pretty much every major religion has some sort of apocalypse in their writings, at which time Deity/ies of Choice will lay waste to the sinful world and take their chosen ones to paradise while sending the unfaithful to the fiery inferno, blah blah blah... and seldom has the predicted date of said doomsday coincided from faith to faith. Clearly, they're not all right, are they?

No, but it's widely acknowledged that our current measurement of time from 1AD is probably off a bit from the true birth of Jesus. The Bible Code claimed that the world was going to end in 2006 - didn't happen, but what if the offset from the time of writing gave a 6 year error from the true date of Jesus' birth? The Pope Prophecy I referred to a while back, that also means we're on our last pope right now and accurately predicts characteristics of the past hundred popes. The next Pope will lead us through the Apocalypse. Most predictions I've heard of fall around the Millenium, but what if our plotting of the Millenium on the timeline is wrong?

Sort of a continuation of my previous point, but it goes on a slightly different tangent. Suppose "your religion" is the truth and there is an impending doomsday. However, how do you even know someone's interpretation of it is correct? For instance, consider Christian scholars who, using ages given in Genesis, say that Earth (and thus, the whole universe) is 6,000 years old. Obviously, that isn't true. Given the track record, it's pretty likely that they're as correct about the end of the world as they are about the beginning.

How do you know it obviously isn't true? Nobody was alive at the beginning of the world to prove it is 6,000 years old, nor did they have any accurate stopclock to time how long it's been around. You can quote physics laws, radioactive half-lives and such, but if God existed, he could have easily designed them that way. And I would say the first advanced civilizations began popping up 6,000 years ago, though I'm not a historian. I take the Bible metaphorically, anyway, much like I take the word "apocalypse" metaphorically.

*finds interesting stuff*

Nostradamus both copied St John's style and used orthodox Biblical chronology, which held that the world, created in 4004 BC, must last 6000 years until the final battle with Antichrist and the overthrowing of Babylon, leading to a New Age of peace and the Last Judgment.

Coincides, no? Also, 6000 years is about the same as the cycles the Mayans claim (5,125 years per era, of which there are five and we're on number four).

I find it fascinating, but I have a mind exactly like a stoner as my friend points out, and crazy philosophical things amuse me too much. I swear I've never touched MJ in my life.

[Annique]

It doesn't matter. Someday the earth will, by whatever cause, cease to support life anyhow. And I'm all fine with that. There is never a good time for it, not for us anyways, because of course we don't want to die.

I say the right time is when it will.

[Endersgirl07]

Well, the best time for it would be after we're extinct as a species :P if we're totally disregarding religious apocalypse, that may happen before all life on earth is destroyed. But then whatever succeeds us will have to deal with the end (hopefully it should be a fairly fast end to deal with)

Edit: another thought- perhaps by the time the earth ceases to support life, the space programs will have progressed enough that we may be able to do mass interstellar travel.

[Haylifer]

Edit: another thought- perhaps by the time the earth ceases to support life, the space programs will have progressed enough that we may be able to do mass interstellar travel.

Well Hawking himself said that we gotta make colonies in different solar systems if we want to ensure the survival of humankind. Mind you, even then there's the Big Crunch to worry about. Or the Big Freeze or whatever model you support.

[kustirider2]

there is a planet similar to earth called 'gliese b', and it is 5 billion years away so if we got loads of astronoughts on a ship there and they kept on having babies, we would eventually get there :P

[bananawrench]

Just a question, did the Mayans actually predict something that happened? I don't really know much about this topic. I've never learned about the Mayans =(, however I'm intrested to learn. I'll probably google =P

Anyway, from what I've read, I don't really buy it. There've been millions of predictions about when the world is going to end, to be honest, you shouldn't get to caught up in it I mean really, theres a probability (a very small one, but all the same) that the world will end tomorrow, or that someone decides they don't like the world and choose to blow it up, or that some astroid comes and blows into us, or whatever other bizarre theory you can come up with, just like theres a probability that you'll die today, tomorrow or in thirty years. However that's a very pessimistic way of looking at it, so like many have said, just live your life.

[kustirider2]

my sci teacher said that in 50-60 years there is about 70% chance that there will be another ice age due to global warming. so you never know when its gonna end

[Faithlove13xxx_SC]

I agree.
I also posted something about this on Yahoo answers and people are saying a bunch of stuff about change, perhaps we will just have change for the best :D

In my opinion I just think that they had to end the callender somewhere. I mean why would they keep writing it for years upon years on end just so that they could keep a callender running until the end of the world.

I heard the maya callender works in circles, once it ends it begins again. Maybe we'll have a new great fresh start on something...maybe when they ended the callender there they didn't nessisarily mean for it to be "the end of the world" perhaps people are just misinterperting it into that.

The only thing that bugged me most is that they're writing all these different documents on how that's going to be doomsday, I even heard that my friend watched a documentry in it in his World Cultures class...which kind of made me more upset..why did they have to make a movie about something they don't know is 100% true?
Yeah, I wrote a play about the Mayans for the Dallas Museum of art when they had an exhibit.
I read what I call the Mayan "Bible".
It is all a bit confusing. But it is true..their calender works like a machine, with many layers of circles. It's beautiful actually... some say it predicted things such as Hitler taking over, ect ect.

2012...is an election year. Lol, not to me American centered. Just saying, maybe that's the change?
I have no idea. But I doubt the world will END.
Or...whatever.

[Ferret II]

my sci teacher said that in 50-60 years there is about 70% chance that there will be another ice age due to global warming. so you never know when its gonna end

The world won't end if there was another ice-age. Heck, if we survived it one before thousands of years ago, why not now with all of our technology?

[PennyTheCorgi]

I seriously doubt the world is just going to end on a predesignated date like that. How many tabloids have you read with people predicting the "end of the world" on a certain date, only to pass that date without a single change to daily life?

[sweetbabyhnd2007]

I dont believe that this will happen. About 2 years ago,somebody said the world was going to end sometime in September.Every day people say the world is gonna end but we pass each day up.And for one thing nobody can tell the end of the world.

[Safyre420]

there is a planet similar to earth called 'gliese b', and it is 5 billion years away so if we got loads of astronoughts on a ship there and they kept on having babies, we would eventually get there :P

according to astronomers gliese b is a gas giant, gliese c and d are more earth-like and in the extremes of the habitable zone

about another ice age, there's a 100% chance that there will be another ice age, Earth has had a few ice ages actually. Also those ice ages followed a period of global warming.

[11krage]

The world has had its end predicted many times before and many people have died.

Why, because they all commited suicide the day before the date. Then the day comes and nothing has changed, there was a documentary about the prediction of the world ending in 2006 but nothing ever came of that. I don't see why this time would be any different.

[kustirider2]

according to astronomers gliese b is a gas giant, gliese c and d are more earth-like and in the extremes of the habitable zone

about another ice age, there's a 100% chance that there will be another ice age, Earth has had a few ice ages actually. Also those ice ages followed a period of global warming.

yeah youre right, i got a bit mixed up with my gliese's :P

edit: just found out that there was a predicted 'world end' a few weeks ago

[Shalom]

There's an interesting article at the Straight Dope about the Mayan calendar:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmayancalendar.html

I'm not too worried about the world ending at that time

[grayx3eyedsoul]

Uh, this is kinda related to the topic, but I was watching the History Channel the other day, and 'Life after people' was playing. I thought that was really good, as it was set in present day.

[Freelancer_SC]

The world won't end if there was another ice-age. Heck, if we survived it one before thousands of years ago, why not now with all of our technology?
Exactly - and think of how much easier it will be to build superconductors, since we won't need nearly as much energy to lower their temperatures! Woohoo, bring on the ice age!

[Rainncandy]

No, the end of the world is definitely NOT going to end on that day. There is not a person on this Earth than can predict the end of the world. Not a one.

[Endersgirl07]

^Except that you just did... by predicting that it definitely WON'T end on that day! :lol:

[PixieDust_fairy]

^Except that you just did... by predicting that it definitely WON'T end on that day! :lol:
For some reason that made me laugh so hard xP

[Rainncandy]

Yeah, that WAS funny, lol. But, seriously, no one can predict the day that the world WILL end. Let me say it that way, lol.

[Endersgirl07]

Course not. Until we get close enough to the end, that is. If the sun starts to cool at a constant rate, well... I'm guessing someone will make a fairly accurate prediction as to when the sun either becomes a black dwarf or a red giant. Or situations like that.

[Rainncandy]

Even in that case, no one will be able to tell exactly when the world will end. Only GOD knows when the world will end - no one else.

[Safyre420]

So I've done a bit of reasearch, andromeda is due to collide with the milky way in about 3 billion years, not 5 as I had previously stated. Also, in about 1 billion years time most of the life on earth is due to become extinct, and in about 3.5 billion years earth is due to become like venus due to the solar radiation increasing. And in 6.4 billion years earth is predicted to be incinerated by the sun becoming a red giant. Now I think that is a fairly accurate prediction of when the world will end.

This information about the sun was obtained from here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_solar_system#Evolution_of_the_Sun_and_planetary_environments).

[Rainncandy]

It's fine for you to believe that, but it still doesn't mean it's true. We all can "rredict" events if we want, but that doesn't mean it come true. Like others have said, there have been MANY predictions of when the world will end, and NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAVE BEEN TRUE!! So what does that tell you????? Just because scientists predict things, that doesn't mean it is true, so all of what you just stated can go out of the window. They are just human predictions, not necessarily the real truth. Thank you.

By the way, I seriously doubt that the world will go on for billions of more years.

[Safyre420]

but what I stated isn't merely a prediction, scientist know that the suns radiation will grow, they also know that when the sun becomes a red giant it will expand. These things WILL happen, as they are a part of a star's life cycle(though some stars go supernova). To say that these things aren't true is completely disreguarding what we know about life cycles of stars. Also doomsday predictions are different from what I stated, the majority of doomsday predictions are rooted in religion, what I've stated is not.

[Rainncandy]

It doesn't matter if what is said is rooted in religion or science. No matter what you, others, or scientists say, NO ONE KNOWS WHEN THE WORLD WILL END! Simple as that. Believe what you want. That's your perogative.

[Doddibot]

By the way, is this doom occurring on the 20th GMT or is there some other time-zone in which it will occur?

[Safyre420]

It doesn't matter if what is said is rooted in religion or science. No matter what you, others, or scientists say, NO ONE KNOWS WHEN THE WORLD WILL END! Simple as that. Believe what you want. That's your perogative.

if you're talking about exact date, nobody can predict that until it gets closer to that date, but we do know a general time frame of when earth will become uninhabitable(around 1 billion years for land creatures) and when the earth will succumb to destruction(around 6.4 billion years)

[jooxis84]

Like every world-end prediction based on some "beliefs", it means absolutely nothing.

[Endersgirl07]

Like every world-end prediction based on some "beliefs", it means absolutely nothing.

Uhm... all right. Completely disregarding that belief is really all we have... even science is based on belief, in its basic meaning. It's not only doomsday that's completely unprovable... every "fact" we have is based on the assumption that something's ALWAYS true or NEVER true. And you can't know something is always true or never true, unless you're living an infinite cycle and it always or never occurs- that means the slightest blip can upset the factuality of something. So "belief" is a factor in everything- science, religion, and all that's in-between. We all make assumptions.

Sorry, it just really irks me when people toss broad terms around and then attach them to absolutes.

[bookworm_duo]

i approximate 25 dec. 2012 the date when sims 4 will be released
like:
sims 1-(late?)2000
sims 2-(late?)2004
sims 3-(late?)2008
sims 4-(late!)2012
wow; that's would be one heck of a coincidence if the doomsday and the sims 4 release will come on dec 12 2012

[Haylifer]

It's the London Olympics that will bring doom to the world. I don't know how, but it must be...

Anyway. I'll be laughing at you all come the day of the revolution (11.00am GMT 21/12/2012) when the aliens come back to take over the world and I'm the only one prepared for it :lol: Meh I'm always prepared, blame my paranoia. I have a backpack in my wardrobe containing a survival kit: gas mask, fishing wire, vitamins, tins, desalination tablets, swiss army knife, real knives... Plus I just bought some military standard combat boots. You can never be too careful lol.

[elekanahmen]

I can't be sure, but I'm sort of doubtful. I mean, the calendar had to end SOMEWHERE. It WAS odd that that date would be chosen.

[Rabid]

Ehh, I'll believe it when I see it. My superstitious nature is limited to avoiding black cats and the number 13, not living in fear of the impending apocalypse.

[Faithlove13xxx_SC]

if you're talking about exact date, nobody can predict that until it gets closer to that date, but we do know a general time frame of when earth will become uninhabitable(around 1 billion years for land creatures) and when the earth will succumb to destruction(around 6.4 billion years)
Yeah but this doesn't mean that humans will become extinct. In a century or so we went from cars to airplanes to computers to the internet to the Sims 3 (next uber awesome invention of humanity), so I think it's likely in a few hundred let alone billion years humans, unless we destroy ourselves, will have the technology to colonize outside of our precious home planet.

[QueenScorpio_SC]

Why are people so worried about the end of the world?? We are all going to die anyway, tomorrow, next year...on the 20th of december 2012 :P
I don't think the Mayans are right or anyone else for that matter who comes up with a doomsday prediction. The world, for me and each individual on earth, ends the day they die...no matter if it's on the 20th of December 2012 or any other day.

[Santje]

A teacher of me said a few years ago dat we were in the aquarius era until 1985 or something (I forgot) and we were now going to pisces. And that would start aproxematly in 2012. And in that era there would be more love etc.. She was convinced about it, but I don't know.
But I think there will be a change or something.. or just something else special.

I don't believe in global warming, so I don't think it has something to do with that like some people here think.

I think Haylifer's view is very interesting, eventough I don't believe in that alien thing.

Oh.. and I allways thought it was the 21th of december.. :blink:

[hszmv]

Makes somewhat more sense. The twentith would be a Winter Solsist, which has oogey boogey stuff associated with it anyway (it's a leap year people, deal with it)

[ToxicBritneyfan]

Sorry I'm replying in another old debate haha =P

Yeah but this doesn't mean that humans will become extinct. In a century or so we went from cars to airplanes to computers to the internet to the Sims 3 (next uber awesome invention of humanity), so I think it's likely in a few hundred let alone billion years humans, unless we destroy ourselves, will have the technology to colonize outside of our precious home planet.

I was watching 'The Universe' on 'The History Channel' and they were talking about how in about 20 years there is going to be a mission to Mars. There, they said, we will build bases and pollute the planet with greenhouse gases, like we are doing here, except much more rapidly, so we will basically be making global warming on Mars. That way, it will be warm enough for the atmosphere to rain. Then they were talking about how we will be able to move there and the children born will (with genetic alteration) be able to survive there without helmets, and will be the first real 'martians'

I find that pretty interesting =D

[Arbaces]

I think we're just gonna have to wait and see. The links are interesting read; thanks. ;)

[DarkestBlu]

If anyone is still reading this, try the Mayan Katun Prophecy (http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/katun.html). I find mythology in general to be rather interesting, and I think the Maya are an amazingly interesting and complicated people. As a writer, they provide me with -many- ideas for stories, even those not set in Mayan kingdoms. What if they -did- see into the future and saw their own demise and were powerless to stop it? Wouldn't that necessarily mean that you saw your demise, saw that you were powerless to stop it, and saw that you'd even be looking at it on that date?

If you read the link I gave, you can see that this particular prophecy revolves around circles, no pun intended. At the end of the katun, about where we are now, something terrible happens where a lot of people die, and things are, in a sense, reset. Then we start over from square one. While a lot of people die, this doesn't exactly dictate the "end of the world" or "the apocalypse."

[ElektraNatchios33]

If it does end, which a student at our school is totally positive it will, I'll be 18 for a whopping 6 months before I die *crawls into bunker and rocks back and forth on floor*

Anyway, I think they never finished it. I mean they HAD to stop writing someday.

[grayx3eyedsoul]

Great. I'm the class of 2012. I'll be 18 for 6 1/2 months.
Wheee.
College for less then half a year. I'll die broke.

Anyway…..

My culture believes in four cycles of the Earth.

Best (The era the God's ruled, Yoga, Meditation, Peace, No one lied, cheated, ect.)

Good (Most people believed in god, some did Yoga an mediation, some disturbances, some lies, ect.)

Okay (It started getting bad, most people lied, cheated, ect)

Worst (Things really went bad.)

They each lasted around either 100 or 1,000 years. We currently are in the ending of the worst. People moving back with each other, joint families, health awareness, stuff like that. So, I will be worried, but; according to my culture (which I strongly believe in) we'll all be okay. Living around the absolute end of the worst era, heading into the best.

[HRAKLHS_SC]

I just have faith in God and i dont worry about these stuff...:)
When it has to be done it will be done:)

[agent_icon]

Of course its the end. It is a well known fact that the mayans were in fact in touch with non-corporial aliens with control over time and space. The pissed off these aliens, and now they're going to kill us ALL on that date. That date specifically because thats right before the non-corporeal alien's world cup.

Well, thats actually all highly unlikely. Its probably going to just be because some stupid bureaucrat will loose his mind and decide to detonate all of our nuclear weapons, putting us all to sleep in a nice, mid nuclear winters nap.

[Aurora_ae_c_a_l]

My uncle was talking about this a couple of months ago. I didn't think too much on it... then I saw this post... and I still don't think much on it but maybe something good will come out of it. I mean I did a little research on it and I found that it could mark a new beginning... which some ppl on here have mentioned. Also ppl have predicted the world to end many time and as far as I can see it hasn't. I mean everyone in 2006 was freaking out only for nothing to happen. But if the world does end I'll be only 24.

[omgitsashley]

i dont know, there were a lot of predictions of when the world was going to end. i dont really see it being so soon. although i do believe us humans will cause the end of the world. im thinking nuclear bombs and war. i hope its not that soon.

i really am at a loss for it, one side of me believes it but the other side is like nah its not going to happen. but anything CAN happen. but as i said we were supposed to be gone in Y2K but we are still here :) so id like to believe that the world will still go on, and maybe something BIG will happen on doomsday instead of the world ending. maybe something better-who knows. i dont think anyone, even the mayans can predict it

[LongTallSally]

People predict the end of the world all the time. I'll bet there was someone claiming for years that the world would end yesterday, but it didn't, did it? It's silly to get worked up over this sort of thing. :) You'll only drive yourself crazy.

[kattenijin]

Something I forgot about. December 21st 2012 is the Winter Solstice for that year, but also will give us an unique view of the Solar System that is referred to in Mayan Mythology as the 'Sacred Tree' - a phenomenon where the sun eclipses the centre of the Milky Way, which hasn't happened for over 26,000 years. This will be the first time the Sacred Tree view has occured simultaneously with the Winter Solstice.

12/21/2012 will be my mumble46thmumble birthday. What a lovely birthday present; wasn't it nice of the Maya to be thinking of me when they created their calendar. ;)

Also having a birthday on that date (and what birthday they will celebrate):

1969 Jack Noseworthy (actor) 43rd birthday (mmmm...Tasty! lol!)
1966 Kiefer Sutherland (actor) 46th birthday (damn! I'm so glad I don't look my age! lol!)
1965 Andy Dick (actor, director, writer) 47th birthday (**bleeeep!**)
1965 Gabrielle Glaser (musician,singer) 47th birthday
1959 Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo-Jo) (track star) 53rd birthday
1957 Ray Romano (actor, writer, producer) 55th birthday
1955 Jane Kaczmarek (actress) 57th birthday
1954 Chris Evert (tennis) 58th birthday
1948 Samuel L Jackson (actor) 64th birthday
1946 Carl Wilson (musician) 66th birthday
1943 Jared Martin (actor) 69th birthday
1940 Frank Zappa (musician, songwriter, singer) 72nd birthday
1937 Jane Fonda (actress) 75th birthday (I've met her, she's AWSOME!!!)
1935 Phil Donahue (TV talk show host) 77th birthday
1933 Freddie Hart (country singer) 79th birthday
1928 Ed Nelson (actor) 84th birthday
1926 Joe Paterno (football coach) 86th birthday
1925 Phyliss Love (actress) 87th birthday

[Hinoemasim]

Fun fact- if according to these calendars, it will be these years in Gregorian CE 2012:

Ab urbe condita 2765

Armenian calendar 1461

Bahá'í calendar 168 – 169

Berber calendar 2962

Buddhist calendar 2556

Burmese calendar 1374

Byzantine calendar 7520 – 7521

Chinese calendar (4648/4708-12-8) to (4649/4709-11-19)

Coptic calendar 1728 – 1729

Ethiopian calendar 2004 – 2005

Hebrew calendar 5772 – 5773

Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 2067 – 2068
- Shaka Samvat 1934 – 1935
- Kali Yuga 5113 – 5114

Iranian calendar 1390 – 1391

Islamic calendar 1433 – 1434

Japanese calendar Heisei 24

Korean calendar 4345

Thai solar calendar 2555

Does that mean they all get to miss the party?

[Vengeance_SC]

Oh there is another doomsday now. Is that going to turn out like the one from last year?

[MissFancy]

Oh there is another doomsday now. Is that going to turn out like the one from last year?
There was one last year?

[Simply_Sims]

People predict the end of the world all the time. I'll bet there was someone claiming for years that the world would end yesterday, but it didn't, did it? It's silly to get worked up over this sort of thing. :) You'll only drive yourself crazy.


That's exactly how I view 2012 theory. And if everyone is destined to die on 12/20/12, there isn't anything we can do about it.

[Ranta]

I can't say that I believe this whole 'doomsday' buisness...I mean, I'm only 14 and I think that the end of the world was supposed to occur at least three or four times during my lifetime. :P

[spatulageekgirl]

I say we use it as an excuse to have a party!

[Dreamydre]

I don't believe any of it and I see no reason to stress over it.

[aimsme_SC]

Aside from the fact that we'd miss Christmas that year if it were true (and my birthday- it would make me very sad to never turn 20), people are forever predicting the end of the world. If I was going to go for any 'end of the world' theory, I'd go for the one in Revelations, since it seems to be the most accurate so far.

But heck. As they say in Kung Fu Panda- 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift: s'why they call it the present'. (yes, I am aware it's a fairly common phrase, but since I just got back from watching the film I've got it on my mind) The articles were fascinating reading though.

[durene]

I believe in it.. hah thats gonna be interesting.
finally some real adventure in my life.

[Vengeance_SC]

We're all still here. Of course we are. Just like last years apparent doomsday, 07/07/07, we survived.

[emileeh]

I'm still not sure about this. I mean, how many times in my life has some sort of massive world disaster been supposed to happen, and how many times have I freaked out, and done some reckless things that I now regret? Too many.

Seriously, last year, there was 7/7/07, then the year before, there was 6/6/06, and there's been many doomsday warnings. Have they come true? Obviously not, because I'm sitting at my computer typing up an essay. And reading through this.

If we are all meant to die from some catastrophic event, it will happen. I highly doubt that it can be predicted.

And what about everyone worrying in 2000? About the Y2K, that 2000 doesn't carry on or something like that. My computer works fine.

[Sta_r_obin]

I have no idea if it's true, but if it is then there's nothing we can do about it.

I think it's hilarious that people are comparing the genius Mayans to some crazy misinformed Christians. I would take the Myan Doomsday over the 6/6/06 one any day.

But even though the Mayans came up with so much, I don't think they were right about this one - regardless of earlier coincidences.

[xHailOfBulletsx_SC]

I really don't think this is very likely.

I think what's more likely is that the earth will be sucked into a black hole or pulled towards the sun - which it's doing, very slowly obviously but it's going to happen eventually.

How many times have we heard the world is going to end just because of some ancient philosophy or prediction? I'd say that this one is just as useless as the rest.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Just a question, did the Mayans actually predict something that happened? I don't really know much about this topic. I've never learned about the Mayans =(, however I'm intrested to learn. I'll probably google =P
There are only few texts preserved (the 4 important ones: Dresden Codex, Madrid Codex, Paris Codex and Grolier Codex). The Dresden Codex is (I think) the most important one. Anyways, this is the very last page of it:
http://www.famsi.org/research/graz/dresdensis/images/page74.jpg
When I went to the library of my university (where this Codex is stored), they told me, that this page may predict a huge flood on 20 Dec 2012. You know, the blue being the water.. But it's hard to tell because the Codex still isn't deciphered completely

I personally don't think the world's gonna come to an end in December 2012, BUT I believe, that there's some truth in the Mayan text. After all, they were great scientists (back then) and were a sophisticated people.
I also think that especially Haylifer has some very interesting thoughts on the subject. Not only the Maya but also Inka (and I'm not sure about the Aztec) believed in extraterrestrials. Maybe they have visited the Earth before but didn't come back in a long time. Maybe they will in December 2012 :giggler:

[mochasista]

Dec 20th 2012 is going to be just like Jan 1st 2000.

[Lollipop_Girl]

Total myth if you ask me. So the Mayan calender ends? Were they supposed to go on forever? They had to stop at some point!

[1306]

Not only the Maya but also Inka (and I'm not sure about the Aztec) believed in extraterrestrials. Maybe they have visited the Earth before but didn't come back in a long time. Maybe they will in December 2012 :giggler:

If that happens I won't be running away--I'll be running to them :lol: Maybe they predicted some kind of visitation from some kind of species--just me.

[sim-potato-711_SC]

Wait, when did Nostradamus predict the end of the world? I haven't done much research on this (why the hell would I?) but I would trust the guy who allegedly predicted the Holocaust (then again, that wasn't too hard to predict) over those crazy Mayans!

On the other hand...those ancient cultures (Egypt, Maya/Inca/Aztec, Asia, North American natives) have so many secrets and mysteries like we can't even fathom creating today. We've got Area 51 and Michael Jackson. They've got Stonehenge, the pyramids, the strategic arrangement of ancient structures, the Rosetta Stone (where the heck did it come from)? King Tut. Idk. There's just always the possibility that stuff went on back then that died out a long time ago.

Or maybe we just get caught up in all that creepiness. Woooo 12/21/12!! What about 11/11/11? Isn't that a weirder date? 7/7/07? Or even 12/12/12/?! Well, the only credible evidence we have that points to Apocalypto 2012 is:
1) Dwindling oil supply
2) 2012 = election year
3) World War III signs from China, Iran, US, Israel, and now Russia
4) Dangerously high carbon emissions (a la Al Gore, potential truth-bender)
5) I'm turning 21 in Sept. 2012, 21 in 12...anyone? Idk.
6) Winter Solstice and Haylifer's "Sacred Tree" eclipse thing.

I'm not going it act on this at all, naturally, largely because I wanna pretend I'll be able to drink for more than 3 months before 12/21/12 hits!

[Safyre420]

I believe that the mayan long count calendar ending on 12/21/12 is more of a prediction of the of the current age and the beginning of the next age.

[babicatz05]

I highly doubt that the world will end then. All calendars have to end sometime, so that date is just when they are scheduled to make a new one.

[Selene1212]

I'll probably sweat for a little while before that day comes, as I did back in 1999, but then it will have come & gone and I can look forward to my tax refund arriving!! :D Heck most of us sweat that time of year anyway trying to deal with all the holidays etc!

My oldest (of 3) children will turn 9 on 12/12/12...

[Kusama]

I believe in it. I know something about Mayan civilization, something a bit related to Catholicism, but, never mind. Long story, and a bigger side of people wouldn't believe.
I believe that huge bad things will happen, however, it WON'T end the world. And I'm sure it won't hurt that bad. :)

Meh, have a little research about Sumerians, peek at Old Testament, and tons of things will appear to be incredible "conjunctions".

[SecretAgentZero]

The world won't end for another 5 billion years, due to the sun running out of fuel and expanding, engulfing the first 3 planets.

But, conspiracy theories are fun, aren't they?

[coltraz]

The world won't end for another 5 billion years, due to the sun running out of fuel and expanding, engulfing the first 3 planets.

But, conspiracy theories are fun, aren't they?

Why would the sun expand when it runs out of fuel? Fire isn't smart enough to find something else to burn when it's done with its logs. It just dies out.

[SecretAgentZero]

Why would the sun expand when it runs out of fuel? Fire isn't smart enough to find something else to burn when it's done with its logs. It just dies out.

I should have specified. I meant that it'd run out hydrogen, due to it converting it to helium. Helium atoms are slightly larger than hydrogen, and considering how much hydrogen we're talking about, the sun would increase in size enough to consume the Earth.

(The specifics I'm not sure about. I'm not an expert in astronomy or chemistry or whatever we're talking about here.)

[simsample]

Why would the sun expand when it runs out of fuel? Fire isn't smart enough to find something else to burn when it's done with its logs. It just dies out.

The sun is not a log, though!
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/death_of_earth_000224.html

[coltraz]

The sun is not a log, though!
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/death_of_earth_000224.html

not burning logs, you mean? hehe

[Henry_SC]

I'll have to see it, to believe it.

[Shuriken_Thrower]

I sadly think it's very possible.
The Maya's were excellent astronomers and their prediction when it came to the universe were always extremely accurate. And that was without all the fancy gadgets we have today. Each period was to be destroyed my an element. Last time it was water, and this time it would be fire.
Now, a new solar cycle is starting up, and it's peak is supposed to be 2012. It's supposed to be stronger than we've ever had it and would no doubt cause a lot of trouble. (mainly with our electronics). Noiw, long ago they predicted 'end by fire' and coincidentally (or not), we're gonna have bad sun flares.
I was watching a program on Discovery about solar flares, and it said that the earth was due for a LARGE solar storm. And at the end it said the next time it has a possibility of happening is 2012. Again with that date.
The worst it would do when it hits the earth is kill our transformers. (unless if one does hit, they do a shutdown of them for a short while. Which, hopefully they do) Without transformers, there'd be no electricity. Now, lots of people dont realize how bad it'd be for a while. Without medical care, a lot of people would probably die from a spread of dieases and the world would be in a bit of chaos for a while.
But here's the thing, I cant remember where I read it, but the 'end of the world' isnt quite the end of the world. Everyones not going to miraculously die. It's supposed to be like a 'mass forgetting'. And losing electricity would be just like that! We'd have to re-learn living without them, which could take a long time.

Sorry if thats so scrambled XD

[Avara]

Well, my opinion is that it's not true. Now, I am a Christian, so I do believe what is said in Revelations... to some extent. The thing most people forget or somehow don't know at all, is that God clearly says no one will know when the end of time comes. No one. Like someone above me already said, it can come five minutes from now or five hundred years from now. It will happen when it happens, why scramble about worrying over it even if it does happen? Uh, doubt there will be anything we can do to stop it when it does. :P

The Mayans were great astronomers, yes; and yes, they did have seers or oracles... but so did the Egyptians. So did the Greeks, so did the Romans, and so on, and so on, right on up to our present day. People will continue to predict the end of the world until... well, the real thing.

I guess if you're a big optimist, you could look at it as... you might be going on to another life, but everyone else is going with you? >>; Haha, I don't know. Just one way to think of it 'positively' I guess. xD

[lexamina]

I will not freak out on that day.
The Mayans do not state an end to the earth!
They state a new age,(I think its called the aquarius age)
Anyway, it will be odd to see the 'tree' thing, but I will remind myself that it is the dawning of a new age, and I will promise myself to pray, even if I am in a hateful mood.

[Dreamydre]

My friend is a follower of the New Age Movement and she claim that 2012 will actually be a "Big Ass Leap" in Human Consciousness.

[tree4me]

I believe that the world won't end, but it will be a new awakening. However, I'm a New Age freak.

Gosh, I'm gonna be tossing and turning all night tonight.

[babicatz05]

Well the suicide rate should put a dent in the population. Maybe the world will be a little bit greener from less pollution. That could be the new age thing. I know it sounds horrible, but it's just a guess.

[honeynutcows_SC]

I shall be dead after being 20 for only 2 days :( :P
I don’t believe it, but also I don’t disbelieve either if it happens it happens I say, and if it does like people say I think it will be “the dawning of the age of Aquarius” :P not the end of the world. If we do die I personally really hope its aliens, I think death by alien invasion would be better than death by nukes, black holes etc.
(Frighteningly for the past two months, I have been having reoccurring nightmares of the earth being burninated by the sun so I’m probably psychic and we are all going to die on a planet sized barbecue :P)

[meggie272]

Wasn't there some prediction by Nostradamus that involved some date in the 1990's when something big and important was supposed to happen?

Nothing happened, as far as I know...I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

[sims3king]

*didn't check if this way already said*
The correct date, is actually: 12/21/2012

The Mayan were very smart, and advanced people. But, honestly I don't think that the world will end per say. I do have thoughts on something amazing happening though, unsure catastrophic, or a good thing. What the Mayan are really saying, is that the 5th cycle is ending, and a new, 6th cycle will start, blank for us to write.

Also, the Earth, Sun, and the center of the Milky Way will line up perfectly on that day, so they're thinking that something cosmically will happen. The Mayan were experts with the stars and the night sky, so that might just happen.

What really sucks, is that my graduation will be in 2012. I will only have 6 months to be away from my parents, and not even be able to drink legally. :P

On the bright side, by late 2012, EA would have been done with The Sims 3, so we can at least play that, to its full potential. :D

[babicatz05]

Well we all know that the end of the Earth is inevitable. We just don't want it to be during our generation, which it probbaly won't be. Maybe we'll end up like Battlestar Galactica one day...without the cylons.

[Night Revenant]

Doomsaying is a popular employment nowadays, it's an easy way to get publicity (attention) and make a book deal ($$$) and maybe even a movie deal ($$$) and well, it is also quite simple to get a following (so if you want your own cult and power? There ya go). People are scared of the end of the world because it's something that they can't control and it's something that -will- happen. People who are scared and ignorant to the facts are easier to manipulate and more likely to spend the cash and pay attention.

Back a few months ago, a friend told me about Planet X coming to kill us in 2012. I was curious and concerned (because, quite frankly, he sounded like a crazy man) and began researching via Google. The strongest contender of Planet X was a woman who believed she was getting communication from an alien race through an implant in her nose, she was claiming that Planet X was coming in 2003. This woman has absolutely no crediblity, she spent a good long time calling real astronauts 'stupid', this woman also claimed that the Hale-Bopp comet was fake, a lie (stop laughing, she was serious). Her site is nothing but a shill (www.zetatalk.com (http://www.zetatalk.com)), it's full of crazy so if you are amused by crazy like I am, check it out. Finally, the next time some idiot tells you that Nibiru is coming, tell them it's already here and has been for a long time just sitting around in our solar system before informing them that it means Jupiter and laugh at them.

[gazania]

I remember back in the 70's, there was some really dire prediction that the world would end at a certain day at a certain time in a certain year. My mother insisted I go to class anyway. Party-pooper!

At the time the world was supposed to end, I looked at my friend sitting next to me, whispered, "Nice knowing you!", waited for Armageddon, and ...

Nothing happened. Life went on. I still had to complete that project that I was trying to put off.

I'm one of the "old ladies" of the forum, and I've seen many predictions insisting (and providing lots of "proof", of course!) that the world was going to end, or something dire was going to happen, on a certain day at a certain time. But as my late father used to say, when it's your time to go, it's your time to go. Being worried about dire predictions will do nothing but give you heartburn.

Live the best way you can, take care of yourself and the ones you love, and be the best person you can be. That's all you can do.

And I LOL'd at this line by Sims3King:

"On the bright side, by late 2012, EA would have been done with The Sims 3, so we can at least play that, to its full potential."

With our luck, the expansion of all expansions, bug-free and wonderful, will be scheduled to come out ... on 12/22/12!

[sims3king]

Back a few months ago, a friend told me about Planet X coming to kill us in 2012. I was curious and concerned (because, quite frankly, he sounded like a crazy man) and began researching via Google. The strongest contender of Planet X was a woman who believed she was getting communication from an alien race through an implant in her nose, she was claiming that Planet X was coming in 2003. This woman has absolutely no crediblity, she spent a good long time calling real astronauts 'stupid', this woman also claimed that the Hale-Bopp comet was fake, a lie (stop laughing, she was serious). Her site is nothing but a shill (www.zetatalk.com (http://www.zetatalk.com)), it's full of crazy so if you are amused by crazy like I am, check it out. Finally, the next time some idiot tells you that Nibiru is coming, tell them it's already here and has been for a long time just sitting around in our solar system before informing them that it means Jupiter and laugh at them.

BAHAHAHA! :lol: :rofl: :lol:

http://www.zetatalk.com/
:iws: :P

[Safyre420]

Lol that zetatalk site is amusing(well the little I looked at, the planet x photos) It's amazing what a little bit of lens flare will do for a picture, not to mention poor quality photos!

[DukePedoBear]

ROFL. People like her die in a bed, dreaming of death. Yes, I know, they sound really bad.

But I'm mean. T_T

[meggie272]

Ok.

Wut?

[kustirider2]

I'm not sure if I believe of this or not. Prehaps the mayans did predict it or maybe they just couldn't be bothered to write another hundred years on the calender... ?



On another note, this could actually be possible as there is supposedly a comet heading towards earth which is predicted to arrive 2012-2014 and it has a very very low chance of hitting. If it does hit though we will all die because it has the power of 77 hiroshima bombs.

[Kusama]

It sure won't end, but they'll "wipe this place clean" parcel. For the welfare, you know.

Most people take this thing rather wrong and this causes confusion. But if you read a lot abut this, thing becomes clear enough to decide what to think.

[boombands]

I don't know how I feel about it. I'm very mixed. Mayans were incredibly advanced and when you look back at the great mysteries of the world people of the past clearly knew something we didn't. They are so many amazing things they did that can't be explained.

This is why some people think that something major (but not world ending) will happen on 2012, like a pole reversal, which will cause us to have to revert back to the ways things were done in the past. They think that this has happened before but over time forgotten about and that perhaps they did have technology and things a long time ago.

I don't know if it's true or not, but honestly worrying about it won't do me any good. I can't stop the end of the world. I do know that sooner or later though it's going to end because there are only so many resources on the planet.

[madisonx]

I don't know whether to be afraid or not about the end of the world [whether it's true or not.]
Gah, goodbye childhood wantings. I remember when I used to want to be able to live forever. Now I realize why the hell I wouldn't want to, with all of us supposedly going to be dying on the 21st of December, 2012 and with 'global warming going to melt our icecaps' and all that shizzle.

[KyleTheArtist]

Nostradamus predicted world to end in 2000. Aparently iy didn't happen since there is still intranetz and we are all comunicating xD

I some what do believ it might be true since the way we treat the world and other people. war, siasaters, lack of food and money...So I don't know what to think really.

[kiddO.]

Oh, i'm not afraid of this Date, i'm not afraid of any Dates, because i think, that Future can always change, even if it's only a Day later or a Week... Or billions of years. Maybe it's too late for us, but maybe the ones who live after us can learn from our Failure. But if Earth... "Crashes down", i don't wanna be Witness, so i'm glad that i'll die before it. (I mean, look outside, Sun is still here and i just don't believe that the Apocalypse will happen in the next 80 years. And after that... Well, that's not my Problem. I do as much as i can do to give us a little bit more Time, but if this doesn't helps, then... )

And several Peoples predicted the Apocalypse, the most common Mistake in Switzerland was the one of Uriella. She said in the Year 1999 there will be big Catastrophes and war... and see - nothing what she predicted happened! Well... Even if her lies wouldn't be revealed i don't believe her. I mean - she told once that there's an UFO in Maggia Valley! (Italian Part of Switzerland) Who believes that? See...

That's why i don't believe in these Dates.

[kustirider2]

Nostradamus predicted world to end in 2000. Aparently iy didn't happen since there is still intranetz and we are all comunicating xD

I some what do believ it might be true since the way we treat the world and other people. war, siasaters, lack of food and money...So I don't know what to think really.


I don't think he predicted the world to end , Didn't he just predict all the computers would fail at 0:00 1st January 2000 ? Apparently a lot of people thought this as they didn't know how a computer would react.

[chibspan]

I don't think that Nostradamus even knew what computers were (as he lived in the 1500s) when he predicted the end. ;)

[kustirider2]

I don't think that Nostradamus even knew what computers were (as he lived in the 1500s) when he predicted the end. ;)

Oh yeah... Forgot about that.

[Dozo_SC]

The other week there was someone I know who know's someone who goes to a church, they said the world was going to end a couple of days after that. It didn't, I'm still alive and so are all of us.

The world is always 'ending' just because they said it would 'end' doesn't mean we're all going to die. Nostradamus predicted our world would end on 9/11-It did, but it CHANGED it moved onto another stage. People learnt from that. Ending doesn't mean death nessesarily, it can mean change.

If the world does 'end', you might as well just ignore it and LIVE your life for now.

[Frenchie]

Most people take this thing rather wrong and this causes confusion. But if you read a lot abut this, thing becomes clear enough to decide what to think.What's very clear, too, is how you won't give us any precise sources.

Nostradamus predicted world to end in 2000. Aparently iy didn't happen since there is still intranetz and we are all comunicating xD

I some what do believ it might be true since the way we treat the world and other people. war, siasaters, lack of food and money...So I don't know what to think really.Some crazy French fashion designer used to believe the Mir space station would crash in 1999 because of a fishy prediction by Nostradamus. Most French people considered it rather lulzy back then. :D

The world is always 'ending' just because they said it would 'end' doesn't mean we're all going to die. Nostradamus predicted our world would end on 9/11-It did, but it CHANGED it moved onto another stage. People learnt from that. Ending doesn't mean death nessesarily, it can mean change.Wha- Nostradamus didn't predict 9/11...

[KyleTheArtist]

Nostradamus knew everything! he predicted WW2, so ofcourse he knew what computers are! (lulz he didn't :lol: )

[PuX- 80's]

The world was supposed to explode from Armageddon. That passed.
On the Devil's Day (6/6/06) we were supposed to...die or explode or something. Yeah, we are all alive.
Y2K was supposed to kill the world. I lived passed Y2K.

One of my classmates said that if you are getting all frazzled from 2012 then you should go find Jesus.
To share my thoughts to his stupid comment:
No, Jesus can not help you. Jesus is dead. He died twice.
And if he could help you, he/his father would be the one destroying the world.

On Topic:
Human-kind will only fail by human-kinds own stupidity.

[Kusama]

What's very clear, too, is how you won't give us any precise sources.
Sources? Oh yeah, sources... Read the book "Neįtikėtina" by Vaidotas Januškis, that's where I got to know about all the Sumerian stuff.

[aba23_SC]

Another 'the -world -is -dying-day'? Why do people always make up such stuff?
I agree to what DOZO said about an end does not neccessary mean dead. Just that Nostradameus predicted 9/11, I don't think so...

[supersimoholic]

i hope its not the end of the world, but i do hope it will be a change for the better.
i read the Alien idea from Haylifer, and i believe in aliens and i think that would be very cool (as long as they didn't just want to kill us)

[Zoxell]

I think the Mayan calendar guy just got tired of writing... :P

[willwrightfan]

Self fullfilling prophecy. You act like the world will end, you say, "oh well, the world is coming to an end anyway, whatever" and that causes you to do things that could end the world, and eventually, all this comes true. So yeah, there's a good chance the world will end. See ya'll in heaven.

[Xunixeon]

I think that when the conspiracy theorists ( I think most of them were pro christian nutjobs predicting the end of the world) come up with 2012, they think of the NWO and the Illuminati taking over the whole world. Then they talked about the computer implantation (RFID) that would send people to hell unless they remove it and suffer persecution. However, I think most of them were talking bullcrap when it comes to the world ending. Yes, I believed that the world will one day end when it happens but Nostradamas said it was 2000 when the world will end. According to the time travel theory, what may have occurred in the other dimension did not occur here. But in 2001, it seemed like the beginning of the end until we found out that we were at the beginning of the end time. But we can always change it since we want to build and create things. BTW, NIBIRU will come close to earth but it would be either a huge planet or a dwarf star. But it will not hit us. So there is the chance if we want to change, we can beforehand.