2012 prophecy: true or false?

[Killer of Shame]

There has been a discomforting prophecy going around called the 2012 prophecy. Some people believe the world would end on December 21, 2012, which on coincidence, is the Winter Solstice of 2012, because of the Mayan beliefs.

The Mayans knew there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy, and believed that the black hole, our sun, and Earth would be in perfect alignment on December 21, 2012. They believed, along with this, that it would cause a rapid pole shift because of that, causing catastrophes.

All scientists know is that a pole shift has indeed happened before, 800 million years ago. The equator was really slanted, making Alaska lie on the equator.

However, the black hole, sun, and Earth being perfectly aligned is an event happening every 25,000 years, if it would cause a rapid pole shift, and make catastrophes, modern human civilization would be gone by now, since modern humans first appeared in Africa 200,000 years ago.

It's false, all worries should be gone.

[Ankuma]

THANK YOU!!

[Killer of Shame]

I hope there's now 0 believers in the 2012 prophecy in Gaia after they all read this.

[Killer of Shame]

another fact is that pole shifts take 5000 years to complete.
If a pole shift actually occured that day, then it would not be until December 21, 7012 for it to complete. You won't be alive by then.

[BrendanM]

Aaron Diaz

The last year cycle of the Mayan calendar does indeed end on December 21, 2012, but the reason for this is less mysterious than one might think. First we have to understand how the Mayans kept time, which is largely more complex than our own. They two systems, but the one of importance is known as the "Long Count", which dates using five values:

Kin = 1 day
Uinal = 20 days
Tun = 360 days
Katun = 7200 days
Baktun = 144000 days

A Mayan date like 6.3.3.8.0 would be 6 baktuns, 3 katuns, 3 tuns, 8 uinals and 0 days. A full Mayan cycle is 13 baktuns, which means it would end on 13.0.0.0.0, which would be 1,872,000 days from the initial date of 0.0.0.0.0, or more commonly known as the "Zero Date". Through some crafty archeological work, most experts agree that the Zero Date is August 11th, 3114 C.E. on the Gregorian Calendar.

What's interesting, however, is that the Zero Date was initially of little relevance to the Mayans because their calendar system was based on its end rather than its beginning, meaning that the 2012 date was chosen first, then the cycle was retroactively applied to give the current date.

The Mayans and other Mesoamericans were concerned on many levels the concept of emptiness, death, etc., which may help explain why they were the first to develop the number 0 and have still the only calendar system that incorporates it. Their astronomical observations are often based on the voids between star movements, like the the northern void where Polaris now resides today. 2012 marks the end of another age, but why was this date chosen in particular, if it is to be assumed at all?

The most conventional explanation is that on this date the winter solstice sun aligns through the "dark rift" in the Milky Way galaxy, a rare phenomenon. Why this phenomenon is significant has its origins in Mayan mythology, namely the Sacred Tree, an image heavily referenced in their culture. Astronomically, the Sacred Tree is represented by the intersection of the band of the Milky Way galaxy with the ecliptic of the sun. This intersection is considered the doorway between life and death, among other things.

It must be assumed that the Maya were able to predict the precession of the equinoxes, which is becoming increasingly more accepted amongst archeologists. It's not too surprising, seeing as their calender can be used to predict just about everything else. The relationship between the ecliptic and the Galactic Equator is one heavily referenced in Mayan mythology, so it's not much of a stretch to assume that the Maya would set the end of their calendar to correspond with what they viewed as a significant celestial event.

The band of the sun passing through the dark region in the Milky Way represents a passing through the void, resetting the relationship between the worlds of the living and the dead. What most conspiracy and apocalyptic types fail to understand, however, is that this event doesn't hail the end of the world so much as it is the resetting of the cosmos so that a new age may begin.

All of the above, naturally, is a complete lie.

Sorry, folks. No end of days.

[Equestrian]

All the information above plus the fact that we (as in the media) all thought Y2K would be the end of the world.
One would think that we would learn from that.

[Killer of Shame]

Equestrian

All the information above plus the fact that we (as in the media) all thought Y2K would be the end of the world.
One would think that we would learn from that.

That is so true.
2000? What happened? Nothing!
6/6/06? what happened? Nothing!
9/10/08? What happened? Nothing!
12/21/12? What the hell will happen? NOTHING!

People find out that the world won't end on one date, so they predict another.

Sorry folks, world doesn't end till January 5500000000, 12:00 Noon. World doesn't "end" until it is destroyed.

[Golden Dysprosium]

About a decade or so ago, the planets aligned and ******** all happened. The only significant thing that happened that day was all the doom-sayers had to come up with another hoax to scare the hell out of people.

[GrayFox777]

If anything happens, then it's only because someone will have made it happen purposely. The world will not end. If it does, then it's probably just a coincidence.

[DogTrot]

If the Mayans were so smart, where are they today?

[Auntie Proton]

DogTrot

If the Mayans were so smart, where are they today?

If one can accurately predict the future and one predicts his or her own demise, he or she cannot escape that demise without disproving his or her accuracy in predicting the future.

[Mei tsuki7]

DogTrot

If the Mayans were so smart, where are they today?

right where they've always been along with thousands of calenders and written works that they don't release to the general public. when the conquerors came they burned much of the mayan written works but some was saved and we only have access to very little of that which was saved. we can't really speculate much about the end of the mayan calender b/c we don't have all the information.

[BrendanM]

I wonder how many people throughout history have prophesied the end of the world. I don't wonder how many of them have been right. We already know that answer.

[Marclaud]

let's just wait and see shall we?
I don't believe in prophecy but theory biggrin

[Comrade Texada Wolf]

If anything happens it will be Russia invading the European Union

that would be funny as.