Poll: Doomsday 2012: Are you a believer?

[zirnitra]

I don't really. I remember when they thought an meteor was going to hit earth on 2012 and kill us all, they then worked out it was going to miss us. but now Russia's threatening to start a war with the USA because of that American/Czech missile defense thing which if goes ahead is said to be finished in 2012, which seems a bit odd. so you know every other country will get involved and their will be a nuclear apocalypse.

all the mental conspiracy theorists say it's when the new world order happens and half the world leaders are revealed to be 'Illuminati puppets' for the Bilderberg Group.

 

[plastic_window]

You should watch the documentary if you want to hear all the theories on the end of the world, apparently the Sybil and Merlin and a whole host of other sources point to the 22nd as the day of the apocalypse.
But if the world ends there's nothing to loose for apathetic persons like myself. So one way or the other, I'm fine with the outcome.

 

[Soycopter]

Now please, stop the lunacy and look at it with a little skepticism, nothing world-ending has happened for 4.5 billion years thus far, in all likelihood nothing will continue to happen straight through 2012.

If you're interested: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4093

well if you discount several meterorite impacts, the flood stories are one, a couple super volcanoes going off, then no nothing world ending has happened

i like listening to the skeptics guide to the universe

still on the other note January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT is a very bad time for everyone

Could you elaborate on this? You are saying that it is a bad time, but not giving a reason.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Lol.

Explain me this: why did all the doom sayers "conveniently" forgot about 2012 when we were approaching the year 2000?

second, it was all a misunderstanding. in the year 2012 the display of star constellations in our sky will change and we'll enter the astrological age of Aquarius. It happened many times before, and the mayans did their calendar based on the astrological age in which they lived. Since their astrological age ended in 2012, then so did their calendar. Just because doom sayers and any self-respecting troll can change the world "age" for "world" in the sentence "end of the age", that doesn't mean it will actually happen.

P.S: i'm not sure if it's the display of the constellations that will change, but it's something like that

So, you're saying that it's not the end of the world, it's the end of a galactic time period?

 

[UntrodTripod]

I'm personally hoping for the Rapture. Maybe then I can see Jesus tell Pat Robertson that he's an asshole.

 

[Arkitext]

To be mind-numbingly honest, I don't see how anyone could buy into this nonsense in the first place. Are some people's lives so mundane that they feel it nessecary to belive this bull? Or should I just give up on society because they're all this stupid?

You mean you haven't already? If knowledge were sand, in this society of ours, people see a man with a few grains on his nose and proclaim he has a lot of sand. They bring their few grains and place them together, and proclaim that they have a very large amount of sand. Infact we as an entire species probably have enough sand of knowledge to fill a childs sandbox. There's entire beaches we've yet to visit, vast, vast, vast amounts of knowledge we don't possess, and may never comprehend, yet we believe we know enough to predict the end of the world, from the source of a long dead civilisation's calendar that is many thousands of years old.

What makes anyone think the Mayans could have done any better than us ambling morons with Super-Computers, is indeed a mystery that can only be comprehended through the reckognition of quite how ignorant we are as a species. How insignificant in time our role plays.

Who can say what will or wont happen in such a vastly complex system as the universe? There are only ever guesses made by individuals who can never hope to understand the system itself. If a sudden doomsday does occur this century, I'll bet my life that it won't be accurately predicted until it's very, very clearly visible.

 

[BlueMage]

great not this total bs idea again

look the dec 22 2012 thing has been debunked and debunked very well. it's total and utter crap to think that they mayans, who didn't make a new calendar cause they got wiped out, predicted the end of the world

and anyone with any knowledge of the world knows that time will end on January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT

No, we'll figure out how to add a few more bits to how we represent it before then.

Also, really, display it the way it should be: 2038 January 19 03:14:07 GMT

 

[GloatingSwine]

Mayan calendar ends on that day, and all sorts of doomsday theories spawned from it. It's just the end of a series of calendars that make up the "long run".

Here's the thing though.

The Mayan Long Calendar, on which all this 2012 nonsense is based isn't going to run out. It's going to tick over to a new baktun (The fifth order digit, It will tick over from 12.19.19.18.19 to 13.0.0.0.0, all the digits are in base 20 except the second least significant, which is in base 18). And as for running out of digits, the Mayans had at least nine orders of digits named for their calendar, which is within spitting distance of being able to express the age of the earth in days on a base 20 notation, and we're only five digits in.

Also, the Mayans certainly didn't believe that the end of the world was going to coincide with the start of the 13th baktun (their creation myth states that this is what happened last time, but gives no indication that it will be what happens this time), there are distance dates on mayan carvings (dates in the future in Mayan notation are given in the form of the date of the carving and a "distance date", which is the number of days which will elapse untul the date they are talking about) which go into the sixth order digit (which transliterate to well into the fifth millennium CE).

So this whole thing is based on even more of a falsehood than millenial fever usually is.

I expect we can look forward to all this again in 2240 when the Hebrew calendar tips over to the year 6000.

 

[Alpha001]

That would usuck, the 22 is a day before my 18th birthday

No drug and sex parties for me T_T

 

[cleverlymadeup]

great not this total bs idea again

look the dec 22 2012 thing has been debunked and debunked very well. it's total and utter crap to think that they mayans, who didn't make a new calendar cause they got wiped out, predicted the end of the world

and anyone with any knowledge of the world knows that time will end on January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT

No, we'll figure out how to add a few more bits to how we represent it before then.

Also, really, display it the way it should be: 2038 January 19 03:14:07 GMT

you're the first person to figure it out, they just need to add 32 at the least, tho probly 96 by then

for those that are wondering, google is your friend

 

[Zaireekoid]

I read somewhere on here(I'm particularly lazy tonight, so I'm not quoting them exactly) that the last time whatever's happening on 2012, there was a huge outburst of civilization. If that were true, that would be awesome if it somehow created a huge influx of intelligence or cultural evolution.

I doubt it'll end then, but who knows? I'm kind of worried about it. Then again, every time I get a tick bite, I think I have chronic Lyme Disease. So what the fuck. Besides, Global Warming or a supervolcano is a more likely threat.

 

[GloatingSwine]

great not this total bs idea again

look the dec 22 2012 thing has been debunked and debunked very well. it's total and utter crap to think that they mayans, who didn't make a new calendar cause they got wiped out, predicted the end of the world

and anyone with any knowledge of the world knows that time will end on January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT

No, we'll figure out how to add a few more bits to how we represent it before then.

Also, really, display it the way it should be: 2038 January 19 03:14:07 GMT

you're the first person to figure it out, they just need to add 32 at the least, tho probly 96 by then

for those that are wondering, google is your friend

That assumes a single register for the whole date. Which is frankly silly anyway. (Silly ideas were legion in early programming, granted). Breaking the date up into only three int values for Day, Month, and Year would allow even a 16 bit system to operate until the year 65535. Using something even more complex like an array where each digit in the whole date has a seperate value allows infinite expansion, because you just expand the array when you want to add a new digit.

 

[BlueMage]

As you've said though, silly ideas were legion initially. Of course, why they don't just make that change now is beyond me. Yes, embedded systems are mostly the cause here, but simply put, nothing lasts forever, embedded systems as well.

Burying-head-in-sand does not accomplish anything. If massive amounts of embedded systems need to be replaced to circumvent this, do it now, when we know they'll continue to work and we can swap the originals back in rapidly if the new version doesn't.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

great not this total bs idea again

look the dec 22 2012 thing has been debunked and debunked very well. it's total and utter crap to think that they mayans, who didn't make a new calendar cause they got wiped out, predicted the end of the world

and anyone with any knowledge of the world knows that time will end on January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT

No, we'll figure out how to add a few more bits to how we represent it before then.

Also, really, display it the way it should be: 2038 January 19 03:14:07 GMT

you're the first person to figure it out, they just need to add 32 at the least, tho probly 96 by then

for those that are wondering, google is your friend

That assumes a single register for the whole date. Which is frankly silly anyway. (Silly ideas were legion in early programming, granted). Breaking the date up into only three int values for Day, Month, and Year would allow even a 16 bit system to operate until the year 65535. Using something even more complex like an array where each digit in the whole date has a seperate value allows infinite expansion, because you just expand the array when you want to add a new digit.

it's not assuming, it's fact, that's the way it is

 

[Megawizard]

I bet what does it is the new particle accelerator opening a black hole and screwing this entire section of space over; heh.

 

[Tiut]

I thought I am Legend was great.

Next year, we find a cancer cure. :|



Meh, whatever will be will be. No sense in theorizing our demise. I'd just let it happen.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

I thought I am Legend was great.

Next year, we find a cancer cure. :|

it's already passed and the world has been run over by vampires according to the book, has been for almost 30 years

 

[Tiut]

I thought I am Legend was great.

Next year, we find a cancer cure. :|

it's already passed and the world has been run over by vampires according to the book, has been for almost 30 years

Darn.

Another instance where one should read the book before seeing the movie. -_-

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

I just realized there's a part of a song that fits quite nicely with this subject

Some say a comet will fall from the sky
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves
Followed by fault lines that cannot sit still
Followed by millions of dumb-founded dipshits and

Some say the end is near
Some say we'll see armageddon soon
I certainly hope we will
I sure could use a vacation from this

Stupid shit
Silly shit
Stupid shit

One great big festering neon distraction
I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied

Learn to swim... Learn to swim... Learn to swim... Learn to swim...

Goes along with the whole "We're all fucked anyhow motif" I pointed out earlier...I'll give a shiny apocalypse cookie to the first person who knows the song