Holy shit! We're not all gonna die in 2012!

[Steeveeo]

Heh, thats not exactly how I remember the Nibiru theory, but ok.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I love it when people reveal that they think the world is gonna end in a conversation, and everyone just sorta shakes their head disappointedly.

The only thing that could possibly happen is some nut-job cult or something feebly tries to screw us all over. Luckily, the chances of that are small, and the chances of them coming are smaller, and the chances of them succeeding are smallerer, I'm gonna kick back and throw peanuts at the doomsday believers.

 

[NeoAC]

Sigh, the only date that December 21, 2012 will mark is the day that our Sun lines up with the center of the Milky Way, or so my friend explained to me the other day using hyperphysics or something like that. I dunno, he got baked right after and couldn't remember what he was saying.

And the Mayan calendar is no reason to get worked up. Like my buddy said, alignment with the Galaxy and stuff, and if the Mayans calculated from the last time that happened, maybe they just did what you normally do with time tables, they started over. Or maybe 2012 is as far as they got before Cortez and his buddies came through and wiped them out, or maybe they just decided it was pointless to map out stuff hundreds of years in the future and just gave up!

And really picking out specific dates like this is kinda pointless, different societies have different calendars. Buddhist calendar says its 2553, Hebrew says its 5769, heck, the Baha'i calendar says its only 165! It doesn't make sense to say that just because one civilization predicted dooms day, it will automatically happen, because that means all the other calendars are going to be wrong, and I like to think that the majority of all known civilization will not be bested by a bunch of people who thought their Sun God wanted nothing more than human hearts.

Not only 2012 and 2000, anyone remember when everyone was like "June 6th of 2006, 6/6/6.....The Devil is coming to kill us all! ZOMG!" Funny thing is my high school got put on a lockdown that day because someone reported a shadowy figure lurking outside. Ah the good old days, when we were only paranoid about some dirty looking hobo outside a school.

 

[gigastrike]

THAT'S the Nibiru theory?! I thought it was gonna push a ton of comets into the inner solar-system.

 

[Vigormortis]

But don't you see? The LHC was built so that scientists could use the massive electro-magnetic fields it produces to punch a hole through the Van-Allen belt, there by letting Satan and his minions on Nibiru finally come to Earth and destroy us all!

....

All kidding aside, (and the above lunacy was explained to me by a total nut-case), the world won't "end" any time soon, and I mean that on cosmic terms. The only way the "world" will end is by either being swallowed up by the Sun when it passes into it's red giant stage or by being tossed into a black hole when the Milky Way and Andromeda collide in, oh, a few dozen BILLION years. For all of history, as long as the crazies have been able to speak, they've been touting their own "apocalypse" theories. Not one has EVER come true, and it's no different from today.

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

Why fret? If the world is going to end by something massive then nothing I can do will stop it. So why worry about it? I'll just go on living my life as is.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Similar to our own, the Mayan calendar is based on celestial events. Our calendar has months for moon cycles and years for solar cycles. But the Mayans went beyond that and included Galactic cycles. The big date in 2012 is the completion of this large cycle, and after that the calendar resets. So one argument is to say that people get all whipped out of shape because the end of this long cycle calendar plays on their fears and insecurities, and their minds start to brainstorm for possible disaster, and they find evidence to support their brainstorms. Certainly there are people that go way to far. But are you so close minded that you've completely shut out any possible implications? I haven't decided, nor can any of us truly decide. There is not enough data.

Actually, what I heard was that they literally ran out of room on their calendar and decided to stop. Rather than bother with a new one they just thought they'd leave it to future generations to sort out as it was such a long way off. This is true, I didn't just pull it out of my ass. But take something from times of yore and some of the more bizarre minds will always believe it.

If people go and actually learn a little bit then much of this horse-shit can be avoided. People of the ancient world were indeed far smarter than we today give them credit for. But in the way they actually had less superstition than is generally ascribed to them, not that they had telescopes that could see into the centre of the universe. One important point though - the Mayans did not go around predicting the future.

What will happen in 2012 at the end of the cycle, is that all the planets of the solar system will be aligned with the center of our galaxy. Can you imagine what could happen?... You learned in elementary school that it is the gravitational pull of the moon that effects the tide cycles of the seas, right? Well don't you think there will be much stronger gravitational pulls if all the planets of the solar system line up with the center of the galaxy? Are you predicting NO EFFECT? Really?!

The moon is closer. You realise that? We are being subjected to the gravity of all the planets all the time anyway. The tides are not influenced at all by Venus, Mars, or Jupiter. And the gravity of the other planets is utterly neglegable at this distance. The gravitational pull of every single planet and astroid in the solar system is nothing next to the gravity of the sun, and that is effecting you right now. But no alien space ships are landing are they?

It's one thing for you to make fun of all the conspiracy tards. They're easy to put down. But now that you've done that, is it the end of the story? Do you feel safe now? Are you so good at physics that you can predict the effects of the rare gravitational forces that will exist during this time? It only happens about every 3500 years. There have been disasters. Civilations have been lost to disaster, it's a scientific fact. And none of the conspiracy tards' predictions have come to pass during a rare period such as this. Are you casting the first stone because of your superior intellect? Have you really done the math?

There are disasters every single year. We live on a geologically active planet with lots of vulcanism and highly variable weather patterns. This has been the case looooong before we got here, and is just a consequence of living on the earth. As for gravity, read what I said above. And by the way, yes we can predict gravitational forces very well now thank you. The Voyger probe was sent out and actually used the gravity of various planets to propel it outwards.

Let's talk about what we do know... Do you know why the Earth is not damaged by the solar winds?...

It is. We loose several pounds of atmospheric material every single day due to the solar wind. However most of the solar wind is deflected by the earths magnetic field.

But...

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Just NO!

A magnetic shift DOES NOT EFFECT THIS AT ALL ok? FORGET what you are reading on those whack-job sites. If you get a magnet, and spin it around in a circle, does it loose any of its MMF (Magnetomotive Force)? No, it doesn't. The magnetic lines of force surrounding the magnet are identical in force, they just change vector. This means that, from the point of view of the solar wind, it will go over the south pole instead of the north (and maybe the skirt around the equator). NOTHING else. In order for the solar wind to take on a credible threat then you have to severely reduce the earths magnetic field. In order to do this you have to actually freeze the earths core (all the molten and moving iron down there is what generates the field).

 

[RAKais]

Since the beginning of space time - or at least the space year 2005, as I recall, I have been hearing prediction after prediction about how the APOCALYPSE IS NIGH, especially on one particular day.

December 21st, 2012.

The world is going to end that day, is it? Well, let's look at it scientifically. The various theories are as follows

The Mayan Calender
The main argument is the Mayan Calender. What is the Long Count? Well, it's a part of the Mayan Calender that goes on and on, well beyond their death. It has been around for millennium, and has always ended on the same day. It just happens to predict the end on that exact day. But here's the the thing. The Mayan Long Count doesn't mark that day as the end! The Mayan calender simply stops on that day. And what happens when one of our calenders end? Does the world end, or do we just get a new one? Even the philosopher who predicted the Mayan Long Counts in sections of 20 years didn't even say the Long Count ended then. It just restarts, as all calenders do.

All that said, how exactly does a really good calender prove the Mayans are smarter then us? Even if it did predict the end of the world. If New Horizons finds a Mayan Probe on Pluto, then I'll listen to what doom sayers have to say.

Nibiru
Okay, let's talk about this. For those of you unacquainted with this particular theory, it goes something like this. Our sun just happens to have a companion star that is so far away, no one can see it except the conspiracy nutters. So, this companion star (or Brown Dwarf, which isn't much better) has its own planetary system. Said Planetary system has intelligence giant beings on it called the Enichey or something, and they have a planet called Nibiru. Niburu is actually a battle station that they launch their evil Alien Invasions of EVIL from. Apparently the asteroid belt used to be a planet, but Niburu destroyed it for the lulz. Anyway, the evil aliens are finally fed up with us and have sent their entire evil planet into our solar orbit. Nibiru is slowly approaching the Earth and is going to destroy it.

Most of the pictures of Nibiru are actually things like Mars, Mercury, and the like. I've actually had some Nibiru-fanatic-tards send me coordinates to use on public telescopes claiming that said object is Nibiru. Each and every one is just a regular object, like a galaxy. Come on guys, 10 minutes with hyperleda is all it takes!

While it is true that most stars live out their lives in Binary Pairs, (our sun is the freak here, but only by a little. It's somewhere around 54% of all stars have a companion), no noted star has a companion star that far away. In fact, some physicists would say it's impossible because of how gravity works - it draws heavy elements to its center. You know, like, stars. Its why those gravitational monsters, Super Massive Black Holes are in the center of just about every galaxy. If Evil Nibiru really was making its way towards the Earth, we would see it perturbing the orbits of the outer Gas Planets at this point. So yes. Evil Nibiru is not on its way. Shut the hell up.

Nostradamus
I could spend hours telling you how much of a problem Nostradamus' prophecies are. But instead I will just go over it in brief. Nostradamus had his prophecies, and all of them were vague. They could have applied to anyone or everyone. And what's more, some people even make shit up and say he wrote it! The biggest example I have here is that one about the twin towers. That one was actually written as a way of proving how vague a prophecy needs to be by a college student emulating his style. Poor Nostradamus, I guess. Anyway, this guy had his prophecies, and while some of them were surprisingly accurate, when you shoot 25 arrows one of them is gonna hit the mark, especially when the mark happens to be 40 feet large. Either way, Nostradamus never specified this era as the end of anything.

Other Fortune Tellers
Have the same damn problem. They're either too vague, too inaccurate, too silly, or just plain weird. And now more and more people know about the 2012, more and more can predict disasters in that era. Old time fortune tellers are unreliable - there was even one that never existed, but was said to exist by some man who was the only person in the world to contact her. No other proof.

LHC
No. Just no.

Armageddon
I'm not going to alienate people by proving the Bible is a wrong - even though that is seriously up for debate. I will, however, say that people have been 'waiting for the lord to come back in about...5 minutes' since he died. He himself said "Only He knows the time. Not the Son nor the Spirit." So stop shouting about how the world's gonna end and just live your life.

Magnetic Pole Reversal
These events happen. We are indeed due for one in the relative near future. However, life is easily capable of enduring these events.

Conclusion
The only reason the world will end on Dec. 21st, 2012 is because humans are a bunch of superstitious idiots who will end it themselves because they're all so upset.

There really shud be more people like you. I have had enough of all these scare mongerers. It was starting to get to me :O

 

[Beetlejooce]

I thought the Mayans were all killed in Alien vs. Predator. They looked Mayan anyway. But I've never met a Mayan.

erm...I'm pretty sure the Mayans didn't have a temple in Antarctica thousands of years ago...

I haven't seen the film for a while, could be wrong.

 

[Liverandbacon]

Crap, the world's ending 5 days before my birthday? Couldn't the apocalypse have just waited? I feel cheated.

Seriously though, OP, nice post. You've collected pretty much every stupid argument I've heard on the subject, and rebutted it gloriously.

 

[TheCheesy4]

I have a friend who claims to believe in the Magnetic Pole Reversal theory, but I don't believe him. Still, it'll be funny to rub in his face afterwards.

Also, I'd be surprised if no-one's said this already, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8

 

[Zeraki]

I've heard so many of these people shouting for the end of the world since I was a little kid. Now every year when it gets close to the New Year I just say to people around me "hurm...I wonder how the world is going to end this year".

 

[JokerGrin]

I'd laugh if someone complained.

'Hey! We're all supposed to die; what the hell is this?!'

Hehe yeah. Let's just keep on living happily until we're not allowed to any more eh?

 

[ABN THUG 210]

I know the world won't end on December 21, 2012. I do think the US economy will fall at that time though.

 

[Llewen Ebag]

Some people say that in 2012 there will be some kind significant event.

I say that's the date valve will release Portal 2.

 

[McClaud]

If I had a dollar for every stupid person in the world, I'd have enough money to buy an army gold-plated solid diamond HOOKERS.

Man, wouldn't they weight you down? I mean, those are really hard women to pick up.

(You may assassinate me for all the bad puns later)

 

[Vigormortis]

What will happen in 2012 at the end of the cycle, is that all the planets of the solar system will be aligned with the center of our galaxy. Can you imagine what could happen?... You learned in elementary school that it is the gravitational pull of the moon that effects the tide cycles of the seas, right? Well don't you think there will be much stronger gravitational pulls if all the planets of the solar system line up with the center of the galaxy? Are you predicting NO EFFECT? Really?!

The moon is closer. You realise that? We are being subjected to the gravity of all the planets all the time anyway. The tides are not influenced at all by Venus, Mars, or Jupiter. And the gravity of the other planets is utterly neglegable at this distance. The gravitational pull of every single planet and astroid in the solar system is nothing next to the gravity of the sun, and that is effecting you right now. But no alien space ships are landing are they?


It is. We loose several pounds of atmospheric material every single day due to the solar wind. However most of the solar wind is deflected by the earths magnetic field.

But...

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Just NO!

A magnetic shift DOES NOT EFFECT THIS AT ALL ok? FORGET what you are reading on those whack-job sites. If you get a magnet, and spin it around in a circle, does it loose any of its MMF (Magnetomotive Force)? No, it doesn't. The magnetic lines of force surrounding the magnet are identical in force, they just change vector. This means that, from the point of view of the solar wind, it will go over the south pole instead of the north (and maybe the skirt around the equator). NOTHING else. In order for the solar wind to take on a credible threat then you have to severely reduce the earths magnetic field. In order to do this you have to actually freeze the earths core (all the molten and moving iron down there is what generates the field).

Firstly, it's not the galactic core that keeps us held in place in the outer rim of the galaxy, it's the combined gravitation of all of the mass within the galaxy. In fact, in all likelihood, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy didn't form there, but formed elsewhere and "sank" or "fell" there due to it being of a heavier mass than anything else in the galaxy. So, having all of the planets aligned with the galactic core will mean absolutely nothing.

As for the magnetic pole reversal, it will have some effects on the planet, despite what you may be thinking Kyorasan. When the poles begin to shift, the magnetic field will fluctuate, creating eddies and, for lack of a better description, gaps. Now, I'm not talking hole-in-the-ozone-like gaps that'll let colossal beams of solar radiation bombard the surface like in that God awful film The Core. What they will be like is, say, what the northern and southern poles are now. Solar radiation does spiral in at the poles, thus giving us the aurora borealis. The same will likely occur at different points around the globe during the long time period of the magnetic shift. Naturally, this won't exactly be civilization destroying or even life threatening, but an increased UV index isn't out of the question.

 

[gigastrike]

Some people say that in 2012 there will be some kind significant event.

I say that's the date valve will release Portal 2.

I say it's the date that they will release Duke Nukem Forever. So yes, it will be the end of the world.

 

[sam13lfc]

I agree there is no way the world will end in 2012. People have been saying this for ages and they've said the world will end a million different times. In fact I bet there was a goofy litle ancient Roman kid who said that the world will end in 3 years when the magic Barbarian cheiftan will smack his hammer of doom on a mountain an split the world in half, and I bet he was proved wrong and laughed at as well.