2012 what makes a good prediction?

I have been observing this phenomena that happens all across the internet where people begin to believe that a specific date will bring with it either great destruction or great progression. I have approached this topic with the question what makes this believeable to people?

After doing some research there are far more end dates to the world that I would have actually thought and many that I have not heard before.

www.bible.ca...

The link lists 220 dates for the end of the world both past and future.

The most recent was April 17th 2008 which has come to pass but more importantly why was this not popular?

After looking at the different predictions, it seems that what defines a very popular doomsday scenario in our current times is if various bodies highlight the same date or year with different predictions.

Have a look at the years below.

Year 2000 - there were 7 doomsday predictions that year all from groups ranging from religious, scientific, numeric to new age worship and we all know how big that year was for fear mongering world ending theories.
Mass hysteria caused.
Nothing happened.

Year 1000 - There were 11 predictions of mass hysteria ranging from the return of Jesus to the end of the world.
Mass hysteria caused.
Nothing happened.

The above are examples of groups taking similar dates with opposing predictions, it seems to make people choose a prediction instead of dismissing the events. Bit like the media approach a discussion with panelists to influence your mindset on a topic rather than you dismissing it as nonsense.

1977 - 1 prediction, Killer bees are going to wipe us out. No big deal.
Nothing happened.
Dismissed.


1986 - 1 prediction,Battle of Armageddon, no mass hysteria and nothing happened.
Dismissed.

Two examples of one prediction and being dismissed as nonsense.

Our latest craze.

2012 - 4 predictions in the same timeframe with different content from a variety of sources.
Mass hysteria caused.
What will happen?

I have only used this to give you an idea of how to spot a hoax, there are more predictions out there if you want to try this method but I found this sites layout easy to work with.

Spot a pattern yet?

Eventually someone is going to be correct and it will probably go unnoticed at the rate we are predicting things on the internet but what does a prediction really serve as other than an opinion or a money making opportunity?

Maybe it brings people from different cultures together with a belief in common?

I would like to see some opinions on what you think be it a sceptic or a believer and how it serves us.



[edit on 6-3-2009 by XXXN3O]

reply to post by XXXN3O


My thoughts on this is that people need something to believe in, whether it is negative or positive.

A lot of this has to do with fear.

Obviously to me, people that figure this out, based on rumour, take the ball and run with it.

As with everything esle, somebody always manages to make money off of things like this.

Well, belief does have power. You can think, "believe" yourself to be sick. I think we are just going to have to wait and see about 2012. Personally, I don't know that aliens are going to land or an asteroid is going to crash, but I do think that there are energies bombarding our planet that is going to cause change. The change may not be perceptible while it's happening, but it will happen nonetheless.

The 2012 meme is complete and absolute hoo-haa. From the Mayan persective, there is hardly ANY information pointing to that date, even when their calendars are supposedly "super-imposed" on the Gregorian calendar. There is not a single factual claim made by proponents of the 2012 movement that can't be demonstrably proven to be falsehood.

No other cultures utilize the date for an "end time."
Mayans did not see the ends of their calendars as spelling out "end times."
We will not be "in alignment" with the galactic center on that day.

It is merely Western humanity's slightly twisted wishful thinking, as the first poster recognized. We were raised in a mindset to expect mystical apocalypses because we Westerners inherited the irrational and idiotic mantle of Middle Eastern monotheism.

The only predictions that seem to matter are the ones related to within our own lifetime. Would we care about a prediction for 3042? That said, consider all the previous times in history it was beleived to be 'The End Times.'

And you know what? It was the End Times! For those living in that generatation, they did see the end of time as they know it. Death indeed found them. How much of prophecy is a futile attempt to glorify our 'specialness' within the timeline of human history. That we somehow are different, somehow special. That our death will have some meaning.

I think psychology could come into play here - while with conscious mind or not - this is an attempt to have some 'control' over our demise. Personally and colletively. So very human.