What do you think about the Mayan 2012 end of world prophecy?

Question

As an engineer, I'm naturally skeptical of claims until I see strong supporting evidence. So when I came across this link on the web, my b.s. detectors started working overtime. But, alas, I'm not able to pick out the weakness in the argument on this page. Can it really be coincidence? Is the author tricking the readers some way? I don't know enough about astronomy to debunk this. Have a look:

http://www.mondovista.com/endtime.html

Thanks guys! Lots of great answers; it was very hard to choose a best answer.

Answer 1

Well, I just love to laugh at these "Mayan Calendar 2012 Doomsday" people so I couldn't pass this by without checking it out. Everything sounds fine and dandy to me until you get to the part about the barycenter "cylinders" getting out of whack with one another. The barycenter (and the extrapolated cylindrical sheath) are just imaginary points--the barycenter is the "center of gravity" around which both objects revolve, but the idea of the cylindrical sheathes getting jumbled up is just...well, silly. There ARE no cylindrical sheathes to get jumbled up; the cylinders are just concepts to flesh out the idea of the barycenter.

But then it gets better! It starts talking about how on December 12th, 2012, our solar system will be intersecting the galactic plane! Now, regardless of whether this is true (which I very much doubt), and regardless of, even if it IS true, whether it would happen in a single day, there's this statement here:

"By some amazing coincidence, not only will we be intersecting with the Galactic Equator, but we will be doing this precisely aligned with the center of the Galaxy where there is maximum mass! "

New Age religious types and conspiracy theorists of all colors love statements like this. They sound so impressive without actually meaning anything at all. WE WILL BE DOING THIS PRECISELY ALIGNED WITH THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY! What on earth is that supposed to mean? WHAT is going to be aligned with the center of the galaxy? Will the sun and the earth line up with the center of the galaxy, or the sun and jupiter, or what?

And, sure, the center of the galaxy is a pretty massive place, but we're so far away from it that any impact that its gravity has on our measly little sun is going to be negligible with regard to solar activity, methinks. Besides, the center of the galaxy is going to have the same impact on the sun regardess of whether the sun is situated on the galactic plane or is perpendicular to it (assuming it's the same distance away).

So, the author starts off sounding all impressive, but in the end it's really all just a pile of HOGWASH. Sleep tight, and don't take these quacks at their word.

Answer 2

the 1st Mayan calendar is the sacred calendar. in this calendar the 300 and sixty 5 days is 260 days long, alongside with 13 months with 20 days each and each. The sacred Mayan calendar became into used quite often for religious purposes. the different Mayan calendar became into used for simpler purposes, which includes agriculture (understanding the main appropriate time to plant vegetation, working example) and that's in line with a 360 day 300 and sixty 5 days. This calendar has a refinement so the 300 and sixty 5 days will truthfully be 300 and sixty 5 days long in case you have an interest in what hobbies human beings immediately with reference to the Mayan calendar, the appropriate place to look is the quantity of searches in Google. for the time of the previous 300 and sixty 5 days the main searches have been for here expressions: Mayan calendar, Mayan calendar 2012, Mayan calendar end of the international, Mayan long count type calendar,Mayan calendar predictions. and Mayan calendar prophecies. the rationalization all people is fascinated in the 2012 Mayan calendar is that Maya's long count type calendar (that's derived by ability of combining the two Mayan calendars) marks the top of a 5,126-300 and sixty 5 days era on December 21, 2012. some human beings have self assurance that the Mayan calendar predicts the top of the international in the 300 and sixty 5 days 2012 . one author wrote at present in a clean e book that for the period of accordance to the Mayan calendar prophecies, 2012 will deliver a popular disaster to the international. on the different hand, yet another author wrote that 2012 will deliver a exchange in the character of understanding and a greater valuable new international in accordance to the mayan predictions. i assume we are able to easily could wait and spot...

Answer 3

It isn't a prophacy, it's just when they got bored.

The flaw is that they created a finite numbering system. If there was a 6th slot, the world wouldn't be ending for another gazillion years or whatever. Besides, is there any evidence AT ALL that the Mayans believed this is when the world would end? If they came back now, they would probably all be sat theere scratching their heads and saying "Nooooo, that's not what it means" (but obviously in Mayan).

Answer 4

No it is not even an "end" in the Mayan callendar. It is just a rollover for a digit in the conventional way that they wrote their dates.

There is at least one Mayan date written at a monument where they included a few more digits at Yaxchilan and another from Coba.

The conventional way they wrote their callendar involved string of 5 digits the last being units of days, units of 20 days (only going up to 18), units of 20x18 days (nearly a year), 20x18x20 days, 20x18x20 x20 days (nearly 400 years). This last digit was in base 13 (for whatever reason), meaning that they had a normal way of writing their dates that cycled every 5128 years. That cycle ends in 2012.

At least a few monuments had additional digits in the callender written down (preceeding zeros). One example had 20 more digits written down suggesting they concieved times as great as 10^26 years. They probably could concieve much longer time, but just got tired of carving more zeros into the rock. Even modern physics and astronomy rarely has to think about such timespans.

I hope in 8000 years time they wont be as foolish looking at our system of 4 digits shown on the callendar year, thinking the end will come on the year 10k. But the way the earth freaked out about our year 2k, I doubt it.

The Mayans obviously had celibrations at the ends of calendar cycles, and erected lots of monuments at the ends of 20x360day periods. But there is little evidence to my knowledge that they saw such dates as "ends" much more that we think that way about new-years day (except they had to wait longer so it was obviously a bigger deal).

As for prophecies of "doom" little of the mayan text has survived and none clearly talk about an end of the world at that date. It is pretty much a urban legend.

The Mayans clearly realized that a 360 day year was wrong, but 365.25 is such an inconvenient number that they adopted their system of 360 day years to record events that may be of interest much later.

Answer 5

I heard Mayan predicted global warming will end the world 2010 December, 21 and 7:39:21 P.m. Mayan predictions were always true like they predicted robots, man walking on moon, earthquakes, and etc. Dates were pretty accurate. So, I believe it could happen.

Answer 6

Nice link. I have heard stories of astronomers quietly moving inland to higher, solid ground. Something is motivating them to build concrete geodesic dome homes. There is just too many coincidences not to take it with some degree of seriousness. One thing for sure, the Mayans new their astronomy. Here is what I have found about the people and their prophecy for 2012.

The Mayan Indians regard their beliefs as both a science and a religion. Their discoveries are not done in a lab but rather by tapping into the cosmos via the mind. Through the extensive use of meditation, they are able to discover and track planetary movements as well as space anomalies such as black holes. They used this information to construct a calendar so accurate that no present day calendar can rival its accuracy. They also use this information to predict future events.

According to some Mayans, this date marks the end of the long count of their calendar; Set to end on a winter solstice (12-21-12). On this date, our Solar system will be center aligned , in the Milky Way, ninety degrees relative to the black hole, at its center. Our sun will be centered in a position called "The Tree of Life", as it does every 25,800 years. We exit the age of Pisces and enter the age of Aquarius.

In this position, unusually violent sun spot activity will cause a pole shift. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods will run ramped. Significant loss of life will occur. Earths magnetic field will temporarily collapse. Humans will be exposed to a cosmic energy that will facilitate enlightenment. In this state of higher consciousness, we will recognize that all matter, plant, animal, mineral are bound as one. This realization will mark the end of wars for a time. People will be able to connect to the essence of god (vibrating energy) like only the most enlightened can. We will have exited the forth dimension and entered the fifth dimension.

The date marks a goal to be reached. Evil forces will make every effort to keep humanity from reaching the date. These evil forces are those entrenched in the third dimension, in the Material world. They have no desire to leave this age and wish to continue exploiting and endangering all life for material gain.

Wars just prior to this date could be most devastating, with a loss of as much as 2/3 of our population anticipated. The resulting man made environmental damage could make life inhospitable for those who survive.

Humans have freewill, Man's future is not set yet, nor predictable:
STRIVE FOR PEACE

Music / Video:

Age of Aquarius by The 5th Dimension
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omij_EUL4W8&mode=related&search

Sources:

Tick Tock: Countdown to what ?
http://www.exitmundi.nl/Maya.htm

Steep Uphill Climb to 2012: Messages from the Mayan Milieu
http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%207-10.html

Mayan Prophecies and Calendar
http://www.crystalinks.com/mayanprophecies.html

Don Alehandro, Mayan Elder
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1011

Answer 7

2012 is not the end of the world - it is the end of a cycle of the sun. Our galaxy will end up lining up with what the Mayans called the Dark Region - a place in the skies that is devoid of stars. they beleived this to be the entrance to the underworld, and that it happens every 26,000 years or so (25,920 to be exact...) this shall be the end off the sixth cycle - and beginning of the seventh.

Answer 8

They probably made a prediction about the end of social security.

So when we lose social security it will be the end of the world?

Answer 9

Astrology is pseudoscience.