Welcome to "The World Ends December 2012." I hope that you find my thoughts on this topic enlightening and informative. Perhaps we will have more in common than you may initially think. Or, we may be polar opposites. In either case, it ought to be fun discussing the upcomming end of the world - or at least the end of the world as we know it. For end it will. The question is when.
The best estimated date for that end is December 21, 2012, when, according to Wikipedia, "the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the Maya civilization among others of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, completes its thirteenth b'ak'tun cycle since the calendar's mythical starting point (equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, according to the "GMT-correlation" JDN= 584283)."
So what does that actually mean? Well, it essentially means that the most accurate calendar ever developed by any human civilization will come to an end. Just because that happens to coincide with the alignment of Gaia (the Earth), Sun, and center of the Milky Way galaxy shouldn't be of any concern. Just because Gaia is due for another shift of magnetic poles at any time should also be of no real concern. The fact that this date coincides with the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, is no real worry either. Ancient Gods are scheduled to return, Messiahs are to decend from the sky riding on clouds and flaming chariots, and all the computers will simultaneously fail. OK - maybe I'm stretching that last part a bit. It was supposed to have already happened on December 31, 1999; or have we all forgotten Y2K?
In any case, lets get to it. Initially I'll be posting bits and pieces of my thoughts on this subject weekly. As we get closer to December 21, 2012, the posts will become more routine, and hopefully more alarming.
This sounds like a bunch of whooey, but I'm intrigued and willing to listen to your theory.
ReplyDeleteInteresting premise... how does this fit with other views of the end of the world? Judeo-Christian views? Muslim views? Nostrodamus?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to it. Your future blogging, that is, not the end of the world. I've found that everyone who has thus far predicted the end of the world has been incorrect. At a rate of 100%. So there are good odds in our favor. I also think it makes sense for calendars to be aligned with astronomical events, so I'm not concerned about that, either. I'm curious as to whom you will vote for in November of 2012 if the world will end the next month?
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing a lot about the mayans of late and am intrigued. Your explanation of the dating system makes me go Hmmmm since it contains the phrase "since the calendar's mythical starting point." How accurate is the end point if the starting point is mythical?
ReplyDeletePat Park: the mythical starting point is based on the reverse analysis of the calendar dates. The accuracy of its ability to predict solar and lunar eclipses, as well as other astronomical phenomena, offers a begining point from which the end was determined. Of course, it could simply be that at the end of the calendar, it will start over.
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