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Reply 80
The 2012 thing is a fairly common misunderstanding. As I recall it, it would be more accurate to say that many things show the end of an age / era / cycle in 2012, not the end of the world. While it is implied that the world will indeed begin to change on that date, it will by no means be destroyed.

As an example, Terence McKenna's Novelty Theory states that novelty in human thought increases over time, and grows exponentially. December 31, 2012 is given as the date when this growth will approach the omega point (a singularity of novelty) and humanity will go through a great shift in consciousness, experiencing everything conceivable to the human mind simultaneously. In this case, we can see that an end of sorts occurs, as the state of the world after this point is completely inconceivable to the current human consciousness, but that the world itself is not actually destroyed.

This idea of a point of maximum consciousness-complexity is also seen in certain other theories, such as John David Garcia's idea of total creativity (based more on ethical growth than expanding intelligence) and the Transhumanist idea of a technological singularity, wherein human-created technology as a whole outstrips the capacity of any one human mind to understand the whole, leaving humans essentially as components in a machine-driven society. Again in this we can see that the world changes beyond comprehension but is not destroyed.

Finally, the mathematical physicist Frank Tipler describes a kind of cosmological omega point, wherein the computational capacity of the Universe expands exponentially faster than the rate of its collapse, thus providing essentially infinite virtual time. This, he argues, will be used to run simulations of all intelligent life, giving us an infinitely long virtual afterlife.

All these theories make certain assumptions, of course. The Novelty Theory is more of a religious idea than a scientific one. The Transhumanist thought is based primarily on Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns, an unproven and highly subjective theory based on an extension of Moore's Law, and Tipler's theory makes certain physical assumptions (specifically that the Universe will end in a "Big Crunch" and that no other nonfinal singularities exist).

So, in short, the world could "end" in any number of interesting ways in the next 6-1000 years. If you believe any of those theories to be true.
Don't base anything at all on what the Bible tells you. My mother, the religious fanatic, was absolutely adamant that the world would end before the year 2000 (which is such a lovely thing to brainwash a small child with - cheers mum) and guess what? Still here.
Reply 82
I don't know much about the Mayans but the way I see it is that their calender had to end sometime, right? Maybe they just got bored of predicting stuff. Heck, they couldn't even predict their own extinction.
Reply 83
Starsurfer
I have been looking around on the net , just suring today, and found so many sites saying that the world will end in 2012, I am really worried that this will happen and the fear is consuming me, I really do not know what to do. Yesterday I had a dream I was in a plane and in blew up, I am ment to be going to the US soon for a quick trip but I don't know if I will go, I really really scared.

Someone please reasure me.

Thanks :frown:


A lot of paranoid nutters thought the world would end at the millennium, and many times before that. What makes them correct this time?
Jason_K
I have been looking around on the net , just suring today, and found so many sites saying that the world will end in 2012, I am really worried that this will happen and the fear is consuming me, I really do not know what to do. Yesterday I had a dream I was in a plane and in blew up, I am ment to be going to the US soon for a quick trip but I don't know if I will go, I really really scared.

Someone please reasure me.

Thanks :frown:


Your assumptions are compleatly correct. I mean, how do you explain the dream, huh? Havnt you seen final destenation!?!:eek3: