NASA: the world will not end in 2012 The apocalypse is not scheduled for December 21, 2012, according to NASA. Scientists at the US space agency are taking an unusual swipe at doomsday crackpottery this week in an online campaign designed to address fears fueled by the end of a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar, a Hollywood movie, and a fresh wave of pseudo- …
Ergo, it must be true. Hollywood is well known for making films about true things, as opposed to entertainment-oriented fiction.
My favourites are the books and sites that tell you how to survive the impact of this planetoid. I'm pretty sure the energy created by such a collision would wholly liquefy the crust of the Earth, so surviving it would require a sustainable off-planet habitation. I am doubtful such exists and even more doubtful buying a book or a website entry would get me a place on one anyway.
Sigh this is the same crowd on the internet saying how all vaccines are evil and cause all autism (probably say that so the line is shorter for them). How all democrats are Mao communists. How the earth is only 5k years old (they got that from all the begats in the bible) and how only people with their warped world view (sorry meant religion) get to go to heaven. People are such fear driven critters. Just like guinea pigs or even more accurately sheep or lemmings that go right over the cliff.
According to numerous online sources, the Mayan calendar doesn't end in 2012 anyway - it ends in 2220, at which point it merely wraps around back to 0, like an unsigned int overflow.
Lets schedule armageddon for 2038, when the Unix timestamp wraps instead. Chances are that quite a few of us will still be alive then.
And maybe that's the point?
"This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012."
Surely the NASA spokebod means the date was moved BACK to 2012*... If they're wrong about something as fundamental as this, how can we trust them when they say we're safe!! Run for the hills, man the pumps, get Kajagoogoo to re-form. We're ALL DOOMED!!
*Unless they mean forward 'in time', in which case, don't panic...ho-hum..
"a planet called Nibiru or Planet X will collide with Earth during the 2012 holiday season, wreaking havoc and devastation on an unparalleled scale"
I think a planet "colliding" with Earth would do more than set the scene for the heroic actions of a lone American to save the human race...
Pluto (formerly the 9th Planet) was stripped of it's planet status in 2006 so surely any Planet X would be Planet IX now.
Unless NASA are hiding two planets.
However many, we should be told exactly where they are so the astrologers can be more accurate. How many of us aren't buying lottery tickets because our horoscopes are not telling us how lucky Nibiru will make us this weekend. Not to mention how many get run over because they didn't know how unlucky they were due to be.
The Mayans predict the end of a cycle. At the end of each cycle there is change, could be good, its always dramatic. Who knows with the worlds economies in dire straits in 2009, can it get worse in 3 years? Take your pick whether people rise up and say enough of the useless politicians, or the bees or so many other creatures become extinct? so the food chain collapses? Global warming tips over? Death from above? Take your pick. One thing is for certain food is going to get very expensive as there is going to be less oil and heaps more people. So start hoarding that rice and other dried foods. AC as I've got my food store, and a double barrel shotgun. Soylent Green anyone?
What is worrying is that NASA have issued a denial, not got enough to do these days?
Paris, as she is welcome in my bunker
I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed.
However, I am confused. Why do people continue to believe this, having so quickly forgotten the year 400 prophecy, the first recorded appearance of Halley's comet in 989, the Second Coming in 1000 A.D., the year of the Beast in 1666, the Second Coming again in 1982, the Jehovah's Witnesses' prediction for 1984 (although they also got it wrong in 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975), the good ol' year 2000 (divided by three, it gives you 666.666-infinity, SEE?), another comet in 2003, the third world war which was scheduled for March 2008, and of course there are plenty more dates going on into the next million or so years (gamma rays being the final of those).
Good for NASA is all I can say.
Did the ancient Romanians know something that we don't?
Ok, maybe Japanese. "Double ball pen". Hmmm... Ominous.
Anyway, didn't we have the "polar reversal" B.S. back in the early 80's? There was also panic production because of an "alignment of the planets". Of course, nothing happened and primary school went droningly on. Sh*t.
I thought some animals use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. Also, doesn't the Earth's magnetic field protect the planet from some solar radiation? So I would have thought that the magnetic reversal could potentially be harmful, even if it's not a "doomsday" scenario.
...I declined. I didn't see the benefit in paying Hollywood for the privilege of sitting in a dark room for a couple of hours despairing about Mankind's ability to ignore the fucking obvious. Bad science in movies annoys me. Probably more than it ought to.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the willing suspension of disbelief, but come on. There's a limit.
The matrix was bad enough.
Am I the only one that's a bit sick of hearing about how we're all going to die horribly? It was supposed to happen at the millennium and then it was a year later (supposedly due to a miscalculation). I think there's a date around every 3 years on which we're supposed to die (on average). So far (obviously) they've all been wrong, and this is probably just another one of those.
Thing is that it turns some normally quite rational people into raving nutjobs - people start believing this stuff and even start worrying about "the end of the world".
If it's going to happen then it'll happen regardless so there's bugger all point worrying about it. Worry about things you can actually do something about, like your family, job or whatever instead of using things like this to distract you from your life.
Even bothering to deny this crap is giving it far too much credence. What they should have done is fessed up with some pitiful plea like, "Yes, it's all true, but can we all just be nice to each other for the final 1000 days.". All the idiots would run around like headless chickens and the rest of us could have a good laugh at their expense.
.....deriding a lack of evidence, but if you swap "claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012" for "claims of disaster or dramtic changes in the climate of the world" and then read the paragraph again, the parallels are chilling.
"For any claims of disaster or dramtic changes in the climate of the world, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of dramatic and disastrous climate change," NASA said.
So NASA believes one kooky theory but not the other - could it be there's profit to be made out of the more 'believable' one?
If the world is going to end in 2012, why don't we cancel the Olympics and spend all that money (some of which is mine) that the government is wasting, on having a huge party instead? Or giving an 8-core Mac Pro to everyone called Dave (preferably a couple of weeks before disaster strikes, so that I can have time to marvel at Saint Jobs' wonderful creation).
"The story goes that NASA has been secretly tracking this rogue planet since 1983 but has suppressed all news of its existence across the world in the name of <<global security.>>"
So there, I just proved that in fact the world will end in 2012.
Q.E.D.
What hope for the rest of us if even NASA gets trapped into making wild speculation?
"Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012,"
Either NASA have perfected the forward-temporal view matrix (aka crystal ball) or else they don't actually know whether this statement is true or not.
Not having any reason to believe something is true is not the same as knowing it to be false.
So here NASA are, taking a punt at predicting the future, and simultaneously claiming some superiority over another group of people who are also just taking a punt at predicting the future. Smells fishy to me.
Look, NASA, everyone sane knows that there is no reason to expect the world to end in 2012. But if you want to win over the less sane members of society, perhaps you could try doing it without printing what is essentially a bald-faced lie.
You've also got your credibility to think about. If something bad *does* happen to the Earth in 2012, by chance, you're going to look like fucking idiots.
I despair at this shit... like the old Asimov saying, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", this is actually currently true for many people. What is the difference between cloning technology and hubble, bubble, toil and trouble? In terms of understanding... nil. Go watch CSI Miami for more examples of gross ignorance of science and technology.
"So NASA believes one kooky theory but not the other - could it be there's profit to be made out of the more 'believable' one?"
Could it be that there is serious evidence of one but no evidence at all of the other?
Yes, go look at the graphs and pretend that ice on the pole is actually increasing. Works well if you are squinting.
Now waiting for the 9/11 truthers, the UFO conspirationists, the JFK assassination nutjobs and the Quantum Mechanics is Wrong retards to chime in.
...and don't forget that the world was going to end in 2006 according to some bible scholar in Israel (there was some Horizon program about him in 2005). Something to do with word-search puzzles hidden in the bible text. Total bollox of course.
Oddly enough, he shut up about his theory when nothing happened.
I think we should have an annual 'end of the world' party in, say July (since there's not much else happening then) where we all celebrate the end of the world in 364.25 days. If for some bizarre reason we're all still around then we get another party yey!
I wonder if the world/universe really cares about the human-insipired concept of time? I suspect not.
The LHC is probably the only thing that would stand a chance of doing something like that simply because we cannot know exactly what might happen - after all if planet X is in another dimension which gets pulled into our continuum, then the planet pops into existence inside our planet, and that will be fun for lots of people.
ttfn
While I kind of doubt that the world will end in 2012, with NASA's track record over the last few years, if they categorically say it isn't possible, I may begin worrying again.
If it does end on Dec. 21, 2012, at least I won't have to do any Christmas shopping for that year.
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing anyway... if it were all to end, it would be such a shame because mankind has come so far. But for the most part, we're all still idiots that can't agree on anything and waste resources on petty squabbles... so a change would be nice too.
@AC 09:45
``So NASA believes one kooky theory but not the other - could it be there's profit to be made out of the more 'believable' one?''
Or perhaps it could be that the "unbelievable" theory is based entirely on mythology with no evidence at all, while the "believable" one is backed up by real-world measurements and observations?
I am very surpised that you are the only person to coment about that, it's what I've had in the back of my mind for a while now..
And if they really want to debunk the (every 400,000 years) Magnetic reversal talk then surely they should mention when the last one actually happened?
go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, .... etc.
If enough stupid people believe the end is coming, they will bring it about. Fortunately this scenario has been oft repeated, but limited to smaller subsections of the population (Jonestown, Seventh Day Adventists, and the like.)
The real crackpots will point to the NASA denials as proof. I am sure there will be real effects such as poor Christmas sales figures at the mall.
Besides, everyone knows that Life on Earth wil not end untill 2060. Probably caused by improper recycling of all those curly light bulbs.
Let me know when you start a Shadowrun campaign! Everybody here wants to play either DnD, Vampire the Masquerade or Call of Ctulhu...No one wants to play Paranoia or Shadowrun!
I actually once got into an email argument with the guy who runs Exit Mundi, that website that lists several doomsday scenarios. I actually explained to him that the nuclear winter theory is bollocks, that most nukes are used as airbursts which kick up very little amounts of dust. That most nukes would be used against militarily significant targets and several others.
He dismissed everything claiming that its not one nuke or ten...its thousands of nukes exploding...so 'effing what?
Why allow logic to get in the way of sensationalism?
Finally, someone else has come to realise that AGW is mythology...
"For the planet did indeed get warmer,
and the seas did rise,
and the planet got cooler,
and the seas did fall.
And this did repeat itself time and time again.
And The Lord grumbled unto himself
"I must get someone in to look at that bloody thermostat."
And he did reach for the Yellow Book of Answers..."
Has everyone forgotten the LHC? The guys over there are talking about opening doors to another existence! This is what will happen. They will eventually succeed, causing this mysterious Planet to come through the door and DESTROY US ALL!!!!!!!! That's why no one can track it, because it doesn't exist in our universe, YET!
</sarcasm> In case anyone was taking my rant seriously.
@Disco-Legend-Zeke: Probably caused by improper recycling of all those curly light bulbs.
You do realise that the direction of the curl matters greatly? Clockwise for the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise for the Southern...or is it the other way?
Mine's the one with the incandescent in the pocket...no need to worry!
As far as I know, it was around 400,000 years ago that the poles "flipped" so we are pretty much due another flip soon, indeed the magnetic poles have been playing up a bit so there is evidence to suggest that its going to happen soon, just remember that all them nuclear bombers will suddenly "flip" too and drop all their bombs, upwards! End of the world is (possibly) nigh!!!
The world was supposed to end in the year 2000, last i checked nothing happened and reports of the millennium bug launching nukes turned out to be way off the mark... Then they put it back to 2001 saying that was the REAL millennium, alas nothing happened.
But if anyone wants to have an end of the world party, I'll attend just because we all need a good party.
Paris because, well she'd attend the party.
So you think that previous temperature fluctuations mean that current ones aren't a problem? Congratulations! You get to be today's recipient of a clue!
Were you thinking of the Holocene Climatic Optimum? Same effect but different causes: http://qurl.com/ysqrc
Or possibly the Medieval Warm Period? Not as warm as it is now: http://qurl.com/m4ydk
I won't be needing the coat for a while yet, thanks.
And they are right, obviously.
Or do you think a bloody *huge planet* has any concept of good or bad, or even care? :-)
So, nothing bad has ever happened to Earth, and nothing good either. And never will. To the critters infesting its surface though...
Anyway, these stupid end-of-the-world stories are only good for making catastrophe movies, and even that is very debatable. Nowadays, with all the computer graphics, it's not even fun to try and imagine how the effects could have been done. It's always some large farm of Linux computers crunching numbers and all that.
Meh.
"...credible scientists know of no threat associated with 2012"
May I point out that this is completely different to "No credible scientists know of any threat associated with 2012". The first one simply states that there exists one or more scientists who have no idea what is about to happen. ^_^
Having said that, using the Mayan calendar as a "doom prophecy" is about as accurate as my using a Simpson's desk calendar and predicting the end of the world on December 31 2009 because - see - there aren't any more dates after that. Come ON people - the astrologers has just finished writing the dates for the next 3000-odd years and simply though "that'll do - we'll add to it when we get closer to the date".
Oh, and @Ray0x6: the "indistinguishable from magic" line was Arthur C Clarke (reversing what is known as "Niven's Law").
But then again, your average conspiracy nut cannot be reasoned with. How do you reason with someone who takes lack of evidence as proof that someone is hiding something?
but we have been too busy to notice?
Anyway, the idea that NASA could hush up the presence of a body the size of say Pluto (which is no longer considered a planet) anywhere in the vicinity of Earth orbit is ridiculous. It would require bribing all astronomers in the world, including all amateurs. Given the Sumerians are supposed to have found the planet, it should have been a naked-eye object. With my Celestron C8 I can gather 800 times more light, and should be able to pick it up at far greater distances (say Neptune orbit). Any amateur astronomer worth his salt would spot a magnitude 3 or brighter object in the sky in no time.
This does not imply we are not quite able to completely ****-up the planet independently from any external causes.
Polar shift theory is proven geological fact, as is the 'chandler wobble'
Evidence is in iron fibres and compounds which have been laid one way for one year and the next day they all lie another direction which would account for the massive changes in magnetic field. (the only real way they could have happened on a global scale)
Evidence for the antarctic being once at the equator is also proven and has evidence (possibly atlantis of old myths)
This is roughly every 32000 years.
Well that is what I read as a dual honour undergraduate in Geology and Geography.
Either way nothing is due in the next couple of years, but since when did truth happen to hollywood.
Hi, I saw this based on pagan beliefs, NASA is right, there is no planet to hit Earth or we could see it by now with our own eyes. Just as global warming is overblown, NASA has proven that 70% of the Arctic ice melting is caused by man not CO2. Stopping all the S02 acid rain smoke is the cause of it. The extra S02 was actually creating more clouds and cooling the earth. Mount Saint Helen cooled the whole Earth 1/2 degrees F when it exploded. Mother nature knows how to keep the Earth in balance.
@ Jason Togneri,
Dear Jason,
I think that after so many tries the predictors of doom will be getter closer and closer to the right date.
With regard to collision with a Planet, there was a popular song fairly recently that predicted " Next July we collide with Mars".
Also the fact that Mars will appear to be (or is ) this year , bigger than the Moon.
Prepare for the end is nigh.
I say that on 2012-12-22, if we get there anyway, we all get ourselves a bat (of yankee or cricket flavor, doesnt matter, for us italians i sugest the trusty crowbar or similar tool), track down our respective national doomsayers (or the ones of your current location that is) and we crack their heads open.
This will have two very humanitarian purposes, one of preventing them from feeling bad for missing (yet again) an end-of-warranty date for the World and more important, will prevent them from doing it again on the next doom's date, be it on whatever new or old culture it was foretold on.
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