Okay, I'm starting to get worried.

[Mitchman]

Now as a note, I do not believe in the whole 2012 bull of the world ending. But I am getting worried of all these major and semi-major earthquakes happening all in the same time period, with the latest being a whopping 8.8. I just can't help but feel that something else is coming, something that will likely cause a lot of chaos. I hope I'm not the only one worried about it, otherwise this thread will be pointless.

 

[Izumoshep]

There are things we call coincidences, earthquakes happen all the time, and the 2012 theory is based upon a Astronomical anomaly which has nothing to do with plate tectonics.

Concentrate your worrying on more immediate and real problems instead of problems imagined with no basis on any rational or empirical evidence.

 

[Falconwing]

I had the same thought for a bit, but listen to this.

One of the main bits about the calendar is that the Maya could predict stuff based of numbers and legend, like there was a pattern to it. By sheer coincidence, the Azteces, who used the same calendar, where expecting their god to return from exile the same year Cortez landed. The spanish weaponized the calendar superstition and attacked on days the aztecs claimed would bring bad things.

So, really, if anything did happen it would be one huge coincidence. Yes, there were a couple earthquakes recently that rocked the world, but that doesn't mean ragnarok.

Also, if 2012 were proved to be true, that means religion would shift to the Aztec gods who were supposedly dishing out this destruction.

 

[Fig]

The Maya calendar ends in 2012 because while the calendar guy was preparing his stela to work on 2013, a conquistador burst into his house and killed him.

Or because they had to stop counting at some point, they couldn't make up year-glyphs from here on out to infinity.

 

[Bikini Miltank]

If the Mayans could predict the future, why would they bother making a calendar that would outlast their civilisation?

The 2012 phenomenon is a deliberate misrepresentation of the small amount we actually know about the Mayans. You won't find a single respected scholar of the culture who buys into any of it. It's a fallacy drummed up by people who want you to buy their book/convert to their sect/whatever. It's happened before and it will happen again. See here for the story of how the world spectacularly failed to end in 1844.

 

[Falconwing]

The Maya calendar ends in 2012 because while the calendar guy was preparing his stela to work on 2013, a conquistador burst into his house and killed him.

Or because they had to stop counting at some point, they couldn't make up year-glyphs from here on out to infinity.

actually, I just learned this in non-western world lit at my college. The mayan calendar is a mathematical system that ties in with their religious beliefs. The world have been made five times and destroyed four times. They "scientifically proved" that the world will be destroyed a fifth time on Dec. 21, 2012.

Doesn't make it any less BS.

 

[HKim]

The Maya calendar ends in 2012 because while the calendar guy was preparing his stela to work on 2013, a conquistador burst into his house and killed him.

Or because they had to stop counting at some point, they couldn't make up year-glyphs from here on out to infinity.

This is one of those times where some guy says:

"What? 2013? Why worry about that now. That's CENTURIES away. I'm sure that we'll worry about adjusting it when we get to it. And if not, meh, it's not like people will pay attention to that sort of thing anyway."

 

[Falconwing]

actually, since the maya believed they were put on earth to carry the burden of time, that is the LAST thing they would have said.

 

[HKim]

actually, since the maya believed they were put on earth to carry the burden of time, that is the LAST thing they would have said.

Oh sure, definitely. Still, is kind of funny. Only today's culture would take a long-dead religion, make a movie about it, and then panic that it might be true.

Oh brave new world that we live in.

 

[TheAlphaSheep]

I'm thinking it's Y2K all over again. People were really freaking out about that, anybody remember? Turning off all the electronics and hiding in bomb shelters and all that good stuff. Won't be the last time people think it's the end of days.

But yes, the Earth is slowly dying.

 

[Izumoshep]

They "scientifically proved" that the world will be destroyed a fifth time.

Scientific method was developed by Roger Bacon in the 12th century, the Aztecs/Mayans had no contact with Roger Bacon or his writings, therefore the Aztecs/Mayans would have no understanding of the Scientific Method, which means the claim they scientifically proved something is wrong.

 

[Fig]

Scientific method was developed by Roger Bacon in the 12th century, the Aztecs had no contact with Roger Bacon or his writings, therefore the Aztecs would have no understanding of the Scientific Method, which means the claim they scientifically proved something is wrong.

It's great to see you nitpicking him over "scientifically" when you can't be bothered to get even the civilization involved right (Maya, not Aztecs).

"actually, I just learned this in non-western world lit at my college. The mayan calendar is a mathematical system that ties in with their religious beliefs. The world have been made five times and destroyed four times. They "scientifically proved" that the world will be destroyed a fifth time on Dec. 21, 2012."

No they didn't. That's how some people - generally the new age esoteric claptrapper - interpret it. In fact, 2012 (and we're not sure the specific day) is just "That time when our number system runs out of number to describe the year, so we get to switch"

Like going from year 999 to year 1000*, or year 9999 to year 10000. Except the Mayans didn't use straighforward numbers like ours - they used a mix of year names and counting systems - so they didn't have ready made answer to "Well, we ran out of three-digits years, what do we do now?".

*(And no, there was no widespread apocalyptic fear - mostly because the Church was too intelligent and knowledgeable to make the basic mistakes involved in figuring out year 1000 was the end times, and the peasants were too busy living their daily life to even realize what year it was)

 

[Cross Poison]

Look, the aztecs were some batshit crazy dudes who thought killing people for no reason would please God, so why would anyone belive that just because they made some stupid calender where the emporer was to lazy too lazy to count above 2012 cos he was too busy "pleasing" his God with dead people.

In a nutshell, It's a load of shit.

 

[cowboy dan]

I graduate high school in that year. I kind of would like to see the world end because of the opportunity to laugh at some great cynical irony or something I guess. I've hated school for a while and it would be pretty funny to me if the world ended just several months after I graduated...

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

Look, the aztecs were some batshit crazy dudes who thought killing people for no reason would please God, so why would anyone belive that just because they made some stupid calender where the emporer was to lazy too lazy to count above 2012 cos he was too busy "pleasing" his God with dead people.

The Maya and Aztec (oh, and the Inca) did have a reason to sacrifice, which you said yourself. To please their gods. Specifically, one of those civilations (I forget which) believed that that the world would end if they DIDN'T sacrifice.



And it's the MAYAN calendar everyone's worked up about. The Aztecs, while a Mesoamerican civilization, are not the same as the Maya.

 

[Mijzelffan]

I just hope the Delta Works won't break. Because then I'd be dead in a matter of seconds. Drowning.

But I don't believe in that 2012 Mayan crap.

 

[RexRacer]

In 2012 the majority of the world will ascend to the fourth dimension, whereas the enlightened 1.5 billion remaining people will ascend to Christ-consciousness.

 

[Hector]

In the words of REM, "It's the end of the world as we know it, it's the end of the world as we know it, it's the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine."

 

[Lysandre]

Copied from the other "disaster" topic...

(Previous post stated it was getting ridiculous and disturbing.)

Not really. Earthquakes happen pretty randomly (if they were predictable, we wouldn't have all this trouble) and it makes sense that, eventually, several hotspots will all reach their danger point within 2-3 months of each other. There's no scientific reason to think otherwise. Yes, it sucks, and it's horrible how much damage there has been, but there was a far worse quake, the worst in the world ever, in the 60s in Chile. Amusing coincidence? Yes. But nothing more.

I'd also like to point out in response to other posts in the topic that the Mayans never predicted a bunch of earthquakes. Based on my research, they never even predicted that the world was going to end, but that there would be a time of "galactic alignment". A few kooks start writing books and everyone's up in arms. The movie was an entirely fictional take on the fairly misguided idea that the Mayans said everything would go boom in 2012, and a bunch of earthquakes and meteors were an easy way to make "big" and "scary" effects to get a bunch of viewers to spend their money on a crappy movie with a crappy plot.

Also, the Mayans have never been right before, and if they could predict the future, I wonder why they didn't see the sneak attack coming that crushed their empire... hmm...

 

[RavenKingSage]

So a bunch of earthquakes happened. They're unpredictable and the series of recent ones is most likely a coincidence. Nothing to get worked up about (at least, it's not evidence to support that stupid world-ending-in-2012 bullshit).