or next year... or the year after that... or the one after that etc. etc. etc. until something happens that even remotely resembles a disaster... and then ... Eureka!!! the Mayans were right... they just got the date wrong. Or we got the date wrong for them... Whatever.

Just sounds like more baseless speculation to me... which will be followed by more excuses and reinterpretations when nothing happens.

I hope that there is nothing to this 2012 thing,though things are piling up.
Snow in Spain and Portugal ? Wars and riots ?
As I may remember 'things' wil escalade in times a head,happenings will accur more and more often as we close up to 2012.

If this is true, then why are we alive now?
This really annoys me, how we can't just get on with living our lives without a myth of the world ending.
If the world ends, then fine. I think it's time for some other being to live among Earth. I think human has become too ungrateful.
I'm agnostic/aethiest - therefore I don't believe in God. But if there was a creator of man, then I'm sure it would see that we are killing each other slowly.
Money means nothing.
Living a life, being happy and starting a future is all that matters... why can't we all get along without these warnings about something that might never happen.
The world could end any second. I think we should make most of our lives.
Forget about this 2012 ####, okay?
It's all I'm hearing. Who started this rumour in the first place? Somebody that wanted to ####stirr among the population. Somebody that doesn't know the difference between a cat and a bat!
Alright I'm not starting on anyone, but can't we just all end this?!
If we die, then we die. There's nothing we can do about it, except live and wait.

Yes, godoftheforest, it's true that for centuries some groups of man have been convinced that they were living in the so called "End Times." Or, they were convinced that human-kind would be wiped out by some catastrophic force......

BUT!!!

The difference in the 2012 theory is simple and clear. If you read through the posts, and do a little homework, you'd see that this is much more than a Y2K, or any other doomsday theory for that matter.

What makes this different is this. NEVER before in human history have we had the ability to travel around the globe at will, or instant message someone on the other side of the planet. The level of connectivity of humans on this planet is truely extraordinary. Also, we have uncovered the histories and cultures of lost civilizations, and made crazy advances in science and medicine.

Human-kind has NEVER been as in tune with other humans across the globe, or had the same deep understanding of their planet. This allows us to understand things on a greater scale than was ever previously possible.

With all that in mind, try to wrap your mind around the fact that the mayan calendar, Nostradamus, Bible Code, Edgar Casey, Indian tribes, The Chinese I Ching, the Egyptian Calendar, and various other people and past civilizations have all had a common thread pointing to a specific date in time for a huge change.

Different cultures, people, different times in history, all pointing to one thing?

Does that not warrant a bit of discussion, and concern? Or should we all bury our heads in the sand like you propose, and say, "If we die, we die."

I, for one, am greatful that we have a place like this to discuss these topics. Thought provoking discussion of potentially dangerous global situations can never be a bad thing.

I'd hate to live in your world, where you'd chose to ignore possible dangers because you dont think you can do anything about them.

I see your point godoftheforest, but planning, preparation, and critical thinking is what separates us from animals.

I dont blame you for wanting to live in the moment, and to hell with 'what may come.' But to say that these therories are not valid, or at least a matter for concern, just because people have always pondered their own demise, is not using your higher brain power.

To say, ' well, people have always said we were on the brink of extinction as a race, therefore any new theory is not going to happen,' is silly. This is a topic that deserves discussion, based upon the overwhelming evidence.

Do I believe the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012??? Not really. But if you read what the mayans, and others foretold, that is not the date of the distruction of the human race. It's a time of global change. Yes, alot of people worldwide would probably die, but not to the extent to wipe out the human race.

Did you know, that scientists now believe that there was a global catastrophic event that occurred in mans history that had narrowed the amount of breeding humans across the planet to about 35? Thats 35 humans on planet Earth at that time in history. Pretty crazy, huh?

With that in mind, consider also that humans have only existed on this planet for the blink of an eye in the history of our planet. A grain of sand on the beach.

It's quite simple to get the basics of it in fact.

The Mayan calendar is based on astronomy and that doesn't have any flaws like the Gregorian Calendar has, it's dates precisely match astronomical positions that can be predicted and matched to our Gregorian Calendar. Specially with today's technology.

In the other hand even tho the Gregorian calendar is quite precise and work for our daily life it does have an margin of error, that's why we have years with 366 days from time to time. Little patches here and there so the difference can be taken into account and sort of corrected.

As for the Mayan one there is no question about it's precision. What people doesn't seem to agree on is about the translation/interpretation of the precise date they point for the end of this era.

Also the Mayan calendar doesn't say anything about the "end of the world" in the terms of Doomsday but instead "the end of an era", which could mean a whole lot of things (including Doomsday).

Case we're still here by then we shall all see what does or does not happen by 2012. If nothing happens by then, and people start to postpone that date by a large degree I will personally forget this stuff ever existed.

Typical self-centered American thought processes (and I'm American). Not saying OP in particular, but we as a people have a habit of thinking the world revolves around us. In history, there has been MUCH worse cataclysmic and economic collapses, than what we are seeing now. This is nothing.

And I highly doubt that the Mayans made a calendar to predict a financial crisis in a foreign country that they did not even realized existed.

2012 is, supposedly, when the long count finishes 52 cycles.
That doesn't mean anything, though. It may be a coincidence that 2008-2009 just turned out catastrophic. It's not what the Mayans were talking about, though.

I do not understand how a group of people so long ago were so advanced in predicting the future but unable to predict their own destruction. I agree with the guy who said that in 2012 someone will find some error in the prediction and say its actually 2020 or whatever.. I hear this 2012 stuff everywhere especially from people who have yet to give it any logical thought..

Originally posted by etombo
I do not understand how a group of people so long ago were so advanced in predicting the future but unable to predict their own destruction. I agree with the guy who said that in 2012 someone will find some error in the prediction and say its actually 2020 or whatever.. I hear this 2012 stuff everywhere especially from people who have yet to give it any logical thought..

There is so much controversy about this stuff that no one can really say what it is and what it's not. Even tho we all like to think we know everything about them as a civilization in the end we know very little.

Some say that this calender wasn't even made by the Mayans as we know, but a prior civilization to their own that was no longer in there when those temples were occupied.

If that's the case or not I really don't know and I think it doesn't really matter.

What they have predicted with that calendar has nothing to with "THE END" of a specie like most like to think much less to their own end, it's a much larger event that would most likely change the way humans approach life and the way things are faced for good.

Worths noting that this prediction in particular is not based out of thin air or possible visions that someone had, but instead in a astronomical alignment that will happen and can be proven for A+B by science.

Their astronomy was really advanced for a civilization that supposedly didn't had telescopes and other technologies like that. One thing is for sure all of the alignments predicted by them that people have manage to translate have happened and they knew by their time the diameter of Earth with a incredible precision. Something that our own "civilization" had to wait centuries to find out.

Those facts alone make really hard for anyone with a bit of sense to simply discredited their calendar.

If it will end or not we will have to see for our selves, because as far as I know none of the translations made speak about a mass extinction or the end of the earth as whole as most like think.

Could very well be just a single change on how the human race understand each other, their existence and life in general. Leading to a new stage of evolution, which wouldn't be as dramatic but probably better for most of us.


Also since you said that they haven't predicted their end I would say you're right, they haven't.

They did however predicted the "fall of their kingdom" which would be more accurate since they were not extinct. Some survived, others migrated but we most certainly still have descendants of the Mayans living nowadays.

Y2K was not really a prediction. No prophet ever said anything about Y2K. That was simply a theory that computers wouldnt beable to properly input the year 2000 and instead they would have put 0 or something like that and then the computer system/internet would crash. According to some poeple that would mean nuclear bombs would deploy by themselvs. Thats what Y2K was about. Sounds pretty silly and was blown out of proportion. There was no prophecy.

2012 was not just predicted by the mayans, but also by every renowned prophet that has ever lived. Edgar Cayce, Nostradamus, Plato, and etc. Im not sure if the world will end or something incredible will happen on that exact date. Maybe 2012 is when something begins or emerges, but it will probably not be noticeable intill a few years after.

2012 is not just a random date either. That is when the Earths axis aligns with the center of the galaxy I believe. Maybe someone else can provide more information on that.

[edit on 20-1-2009 by Wisen Heimer]

Comparing our current situation to other civilizations, Egypt, Romans, Mayans, Aztecs, etc. They all eventually fell or dissapeared, I think we are at that point. I think these civilizations broke up, evolved and our way of living is bringing us to destruction. According to the web-bot predictions which are very freaky, this Monday the 26th of January if there is an financial event like they predict, be very worried. Then, what is a global coastal event? I live in Florida!!!

Originally posted by TheRepublic
i read a book once that said the mayan calender is made up of periods of time within periods of time, consisting of "nights" mostly negative times and "days" more positive times.

right now we are in one of the final night periods to happen before 2012.

basically what im saying is that 2012 according to the myans would be the END of "THE END."

so what we are in right now is the end of the world. it is not instantanious.
i doubt many of us will be around to see the END of the END on dec 21 2012.

i tried to exsplain that well, hopefully it made sense.

they never stated it to be the end of the end FOOL!.

Originally posted by porschedrifter
well, the sooner the better.

duuuuuuuude, thats whhat im talkin bout