0110100110 said:
When scholars first began to study the ancient Mayan culture, which flourished in Latin America during the first millennium, they were surprised to discover how highly developed Mayan knowledge of astronomy was. The Mayans were able to predict astronomical events such as eclipses with perfect accuracy far into the future. But something else struck the scholars too : for some reason the Mayan calendar came to an abrupt end on December 21 2012. What did this mean?
Exactly what you just said. That this is the date where their calendar ends. That's all.
The 2012 Mystery
Interpretations of the Mayan calendar and the significance of its end date vary significantly. Some insist it means nothing. The Mayans just picked that end date arbitrarily because their calendar had to end somewhere, they say. For others, though, the Mayan end date is a forecast of doom : life as we know it will end on that day. Either everyone will die, or something so tumultuously significant will happen, that our lives will never be the same again.
Based on what? To assume that something special will happen is to assume one of the following things:
1) One hell of a coincidence will occur, which is a pretty stupid thing to *assume*.
2) The Mayans -- an ancient civilization that at the time was *as least* a millennium behind us (today) in terms of science and technology -- were able to accurately predict something that we cannot. I have more faith in the dates Jehova's Witnesses keep making up at random; at least they have *access* to modern science and technology (even if they don't use them). So I guess this means I have "negative faith" in the Mayan thing, since my faith in JW is zero...
The esoteric scholar Terence McKenna added another layer to the Mayan mystery when he published the result of his researches into the I Ching, an ancient Chinese book of prophecy. McKenna claimed that careful analysis of the I Ching revealed a pattern which paralleled events in human history.
A prophecy is open to interpretation. Looking back with hindsight, they always seem to come true. The reason is simple. Prophecies are vague and general. Let's look at an example: "A comet will appear in the sky and an empire will fall. There shall be a day of darkness, and this day shall be the first day of the End Times." (I made this up, btw)
Interpretation: Holy shit! Haley's Comet came around, and the Soviet Union fell... There's been several eclipses since then... FUCK! We're already in the End Times!!! PANIC!!!!
But on the other hand... the probability that "between the appearance of a comet, and a total eclipse" (in other words, at absolutely any time) some large nation will fall, is damn-near 100%. Nations fall. Comets swing past the earth. Eclipses occur quite often. Whoever wrote that prophecy (eh... me, that is, but they're all pretty much like that) sure felt like placing an insanely safe bet. So the prophecy actually means absolutely shit.
Mysteriously, it came to an abrupt end on December 21 2012. Rather than seeing in it a prediction of doom, however, McKenna tended to view the change positively. He believed that, on that date, a new era of enlightenment would begin. What would actually happen he was usually vague about, but some of his ideas included the invention of a time machine, the emergence of the first truly sentient artificial intelligence, or a global first contact event with an alien species.
If this McKenna is a scientist then he knows better than to speculate with absolutely no foundation. Logical conclusion: He's not a scientist, just another guy with a couple of vague ideas of what might happen in the future. Time machine -- no, and no more sci-fi for you! Read for example "The Universe in a Nutshell" by Stephen Hawking. First sentient AI -- plausible, but only because there is no single, clear, scientifically verifiable definition of "sentient" (so in other words, it's open to interpretation). First contact with aliens -- plausible, assuming he means we'll pick up some signal or something (if he means aliens landing on the White House lawn, he should seek help). But the probability that this (or the AI thing) would occur on that date is negligible. If he means it will happen "sometime after that date" (including an infinite time after that date, AKA never), then we're back to safe bet prophecies.
It's certainly fascinating that two separate ancient predictive systems, originating in completely distinct cultures, should both attach cosmic significance to the winter solstice event of 2012. Is it time to get scared?
Fascinating? Not really. If enough people (cultures) make up random dates when "something big" will happen, two are bound to hit the same mark just by chance. Now, if they arrived at it based on some form of verifiable, empirical foundation, that might be worth shitting a brick or two over. But as they left no way to verify anything, the only reasonable conclusion is that they didn't want people to know they had just pulled the dates out of their respective asses.
Why that date, though? The year is as probably the last year in some cycle in both calendars, so they both figured it was a good point to quit. Neither of them thought of it as "2012", as they didn't use the Christian calendar, so it has nothing to do with the number. Why winter solstice? Darkest day of the year. Perfect for an end or a new beginning. So perfect I find it highly unlikely that it would *not* be made up by humans...
2012 : Enlightenment or Doom?
So if we are all doomed, what could the source of this doom possibly be? Some claim that the precessional cycle of the winter solstice will be in a once-in-every 26,000 years alignment with the galactic plane in 2012. In astrology, this precessional movement corresponds to a change in the precessional age : from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, long foreseen as a time of enlightenment and joy. Some see in the alignment not joy, but danger, however. They fear that a great astronomical catastrophe is about to occur.
There are several systems for astrology, all assigning different meaning to various phenomena. All of them are based on absolutely nothing. Astrology has been proven no better than guessing on multiple occasions, and has been laughed at by scientists for some 400 years now; ever since we learned that the earth isn't the center of the universe, and that it is, in fact, just another planet. This knowledge causes the central idea behind astrology to fall apart, as "the Heavens" aren't "intended" to be observed from any specific point. Astrology assumes that there is a special meaning in how space appears when viewed from the earth. That implies that the earth has a special "function" in the universe. It does not. It just happens to be the only place from where we've ever observed space.
What is your opinion? Do you think December 21 2012 is a day of destruction? world peace? world war? or do you think it is a load of rubbish.
Rubbish. Absolute rubbish.
