12/21/12 or 2040?

[Spec]

Do you beleive in this end of the world stuff? According to the Mayan calender, the end of the world comes on december 21, 2012. And according to others its in 2040 when all the planets line up perfectly.

I mean, some thought that earth would explode in the year 2000 and nothing happenned. Why do people still beleive in this end of the world stuff. I think pretty much everyone here knows I am not religious one bit, but what would be the purpose of creating a world and to destroy it at a specific moment in time?

What logic makes people beleive in this stuff?

Spec.

[Asher]

Do you beleive in this end of the world stuff?

No.

What logic makes people beleive in this stuff?

The same logic that tells people God exists, or Quebec is a nation.

[Heraclitus]

Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Spec
december 21, 2012.

I swear that whole thing is an internet meme by now.

[Lorizael]

Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Spec
...what would be the purpose of creating a world and to destroy it at a specific moment in time?

It's hazardous to leave experiments running.

[BeBMan]

I mean, some thought that earth would explode in the year 2000 and nothing happenned.

I bought into this and now I'm still angry about these lies

[Spec]

If Asher was a Quebecer, he'd be the most patriotic of them all.

Spec.

[Andemagne]

Re: Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Heraclitus
I swear that whole thing is an internet meme by now.

the Mayans have been saying that a little longer than Interweb have been in existance.

[Heraclitus]

Re: Re: Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Andemagne



the Mayans have been saying that a little longer than Interweb have been in existance.

No they haven't.

Despite the publicity generated by the 2012 date, Susan Milbrath, curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, stated that "We [the archaeological community] have no record or knowledge that [the Maya] would think the world would come to an end" in 2012.

"For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle," says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. in Crystal River, Florida. To render December 21, 2012, as a doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is "a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in."

[Lorizael]

Re: Re: Re: Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Heraclitus
No they haven't.

Their long count is reset. From what I remember they viewed this to be a period of... intense transition.

[Heraclitus]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 12/21/12 or 2040?

Originally posted by Lorizael


Their long count is reset. From what I remember they viewed this to be a period of... intense transition.

is 20 katun cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar. It contains 144,000 days or 400 tuns or nearly 400 tropical years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the current calendrical cycle. The current (12th) baktun will end, or be completed, on 13.0.0.0.0 (December 21, 2012 using the GMT correlation). This also marks the beginning of the 13th baktun, as such a term is usually used among Mayanists.

[Heraclitus]

0.0.0.0.0 August 11, 3114 BCE
1.0.0.0.0 November 13, 2720 BCE
2.0.0.0.0 February 16, 2325 BCE
3.0.0.0.0 May 21, 1931 BCE
4.0.0.0.0 August 23, 1537 BCE
5.0.0.0.0 November 26, 1143 BCE
6.0.0.0.0 February 28, 748 BCE
7.0.0.0.0 June 3, 354 BCE
8.0.0.0.0 September 5, 41 CE
9.0.0.0.0 December 9, 435
10.0.0.0.0 March 13, 830
11.0.0.0.0 June 15, 1224
12.0.0.0.0 September 18, 1618
13.0.0.0.0 December 21, 2012

See?

It happened for 12 times and we are still here.

Maya stelae occasionally show dates beyond 2012. Most of these are in the form of "distance dates", where a Long Count date is given with a distance date to be added. For example, on the Tablet of Inscriptions from Palenque the following Long Count date was found: 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24 March 603 Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is given as 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol,[11] or 21 October 4772 – almost 3,000 years into the future. The king Pacal of Palenque predicted that on this date the eightieth Calendar Round anniversary of his accession will be celebrated, suggesting he did not believe the world would end in 2012.

[Lorizael]

The fact that the world hasn't blown up doesn't mean ancient Mayans didn't believe the end of the long count was a transitionary period.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Lorizael
The fact that the world hasn't blown up doesn't mean ancient Mayans didn't believe the end of the long count was a transitionary period.

And if they did? Who cares!

Why would the mayans be right and the Sumerians wrong? There is no rational reason for the Maya to have any idea as to what will happen in the future.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Lorizael
The fact that the world hasn't blown up doesn't mean ancient Mayans didn't believe the end of the long count was a transitionary period.

I hate to break this to you but every period is a transitionary period.

[Lorizael]

That is, btw, the only argument I'm making. I don't think the world is going to end, I don't think the Mayans thought the world would end - I'm just trying to show the origin of the world ending thing in today's culture. It comes from an exaggerated view of the end of the long count being a big thing.