Thoughts on the 2012 doomsday theory?

[bamf]

It's gonna be the end of the world.

I'm going to die that day, and seeing as how the whole world (and everyone in it...yes, you too) is made up in my mind, everything will end with me. Accept it.

 

[TheLastMohican]

Nature doesn't recognise time, days, weeks or years; those are merely things we've created to time-keep.

Classic deepity. Nature doesn't speak in terms of our chronological labels, but it does follow regular cycles that we name and predict. Earth does complete a rotation once a day and a revolution once a year. Old Faithful does erupt about every 90 minutes. It is not unreasonable to predict some natural disaster according to our own time scales, because those time scales are based on nature's.

(The 2012 hysteria is indeed a load of crap, but be careful not to overstate things.)

 

[rawr]

they (scientists and ressearchers) say the mayan calander cycles

 

[Krumplenump]

Classic deepity. Nature doesn't speak in terms of our chronological labels, but it does follow regular cycles that we name and predict. Earth does complete a rotation once a day and a revolution once a year. Old Faithful does erupt about every 90 minutes. It is not unreasonable to predict some natural disaster according to our own time scales, because those time scales are based on nature's.

(The 2012 hysteria is indeed a load of crap, but be careful not to overstate things.)

I thought someone might pick up on that. Of course the seasons and cyclical events are very much a part of nature, I understand that and therefore what I said was not deepity, I merely didn't voice the other aspect.

However, the fact that nature adheres to seasonal events and natural disasters that occur predominantly in some places and with predictable intervals when looked at in terms of millennia, does not in any way suggest humans are able to improve upon those cyclically occurring natural events by making predictions based on their own calendars. Making a calendar to run in tandem with nature is all well and good, but using it to predict events is utterly inane.

I understand you're not disputing my dismissal of events like 2012 as crap, but I assure you I'm not prone to overstate that dismissal - and thus fail to understand that our comprehension of time is derived from nature - on the strength that I think Mayan predictions and the like are rubbish!

 

[Lucifer]

Certain people have always wanted the world to end. Perhaps its because everyone secretly daydreams of a perfect society in the future, but for that to occur this one has to radically shift or die.

I don't know weather the world would end in 2012 it could end tomorrow. What I do know is that this doomsday has been predicted a whole lot over the years. And this kind of fits the bill of people wishing that all the suffering in the world would end and creating a mythology to support that.

:msith:

 

[TheLastMohican]

However, the fact that nature adheres to seasonal events and natural disasters that occur predominantly in some places and with predictable intervals when looked at in terms of millennia, does not in any way suggest humans are able to improve upon those cyclically occurring natural events by making predictions based on their own calendars. Making a calendar to run in tandem with nature is all well and good, but using it to predict events is utterly inane.

If you make a calendar to fit nature's regular timescales, then the two methods are one and the same, except the calendar has handy labels that we can convey with language.
The problem with the Mayan calendar basis for 2012 hysteria is not that it was a human calendar, but that it ended at an unremarkable point due to the religious beliefs of those who crafted it.

 

[Krumplenump]

If you make a calendar to fit nature's regular timescales, then the two methods are one and the same, except the calendar has handy labels that we can convey with language.
The problem with the Mayan calendar basis for 2012 hysteria is not that it was a human calendar, but that it ended at an unremarkable point due to the religious beliefs of those who crafted it.

Well yes, and I'm simply saying using the calendars that were designed in tandem with natures cycles to predict events is stupid, so we're basically arguing the same point - you only replied to me to suggest I be careful I didn't 'overstate' things.