DOOMSDAY!!!!!!!!!!

The 2012 doomsday prediction is a present-day cultural meme proposing that cataclysmic and apocalyptic events will occur in the year 2012. This idea has been disseminated by numerous books, internet sites and by TV documentaries. The forecast is based primarily on what is claimed to be the end-date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012, along with interpretations of assorted legends, scriptures, numerological constructions and prophecies.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation rather than an armageddon, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a newer sociopolitical age for the global community. [1]





Many believe that the ending of this cycle will correspond with a global "consciousness shift" and the beginning of a new age. The date became the subject of speculation by Frank Waters, who devotes two chapters to its interpretation, including discussion of an astrological chart for this date and its association with Hopi prophecies in Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth Age of Consciousness(1975).[8] The significance of the year 2012 (but not a specific day) was mentioned briefly by José Argüelles in The Transformative Vision, (1975)[9] and later in The Mayan Factor (1987),[10] promoted at the 1987 Harmonic Convergence.

Author Daniel Pinchbeck popularized New Age concepts about this date, linking[vague] it to beliefs about crop circles, alien abduction, and personal revelations based on the use of entheogens and mediumship in his 2006 book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl.[11] Pinchbeck argues for a shift in consciousness rather than an apocolpyse, suggesting that materialistic attitudes, rather than the material world, are in jeopardy.[12] Semir Osmanagić, the archaeologist responsible for promoting the Bosnian pyramids, referred to 2012 in the conclusion of his book The World of the Maya.[13] He suggests that "Advancement of DNA may raise us to a higher level" and concludes, "When the 'heavens open' and cosmic energy is allowed to flow throughout our tiny Planet, will we be raised to a higher level by the vibrations".[13]

Experts on the ancient Maya such as Schele and Freidel[14] tend to see the focus on 2012 as a manifestation of Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs that reinterpret and potentially distort ancient Mayan culture. University of Florida astronomer Susan Milbrath, author of Star Gods of the Maya, is among those who have accused 2012 doomsday proponents of exploiting Mayan culture to advance political or personal agendas.[15] Promotion of Mayanism through interest in 2012 doomsday scenarios is contributing to the evolution of religious syncretism in contemporary Maya communities.[citation needed]


[edit] Galactic alignment
Frank Waters' book inspired further speculation by John Major Jenkins in the mid-1980s, noting the correspondence of the December 21 date with the winter solstice in 2012. This date was in line with an idea he terms the Galactic Alignment.

In the Solar System, the planets and the Sun share roughly the same plane of orbit, known as the plane of the ecliptic. From our perspective on Earth, the twelve Zodiacal constellations move along or near the ecliptic, and over time, appear to recede counterclockwise by one degree every 72 years. This movement is attributed to a slight wobble in the Earth's axis as it spins. As a result, approximately every 2160 years, the constellation visible on the early morning of the spring equinox changes. In Western astrological traditions, this signals the end of one astrological age (currently the Age of Pisces) and the beginning of another (Age of Aquarius). Over the course of 26,000 years, the precession of the equinoxes makes one full circuit around the ecliptic.

Just as the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere is currently in the constellation of Pisces, so the winter solstice is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius, which happens to be the constellation intersected by the galactic equator. Every year for the last 2000 years or so, on the winter solstice, the Earth, Sun and the galactic equator come into alignment, and every year, precession pushes the Sun's position a little way further through the Milky Way's band.


The Milky Way near Cygnus showing the lane of the Dark Rift which the Maya called the Xibalba be or Black Road.Jenkins suggests that the Maya based their calendar on observations of the "dark rift", a band of black dust clouds in the Milky Way, which the Maya called the Xibalba be or Black Road.[16] Jenkins claims that the Maya were aware of where the ecliptic intersected the Black Road and gave this position in the sky a special significance in their cosmology.[17] According to the theory, the Sun precisely aligns with this intersection point at the winter solstice of 2012.[17] Jenkins is credited with the premise that the classical Mayans anticipated this conjunction and celebrated it as the harbinger of a profound spiritual transition for mankind.[18] New Age proponents of the galactic alignment theory argue that, just as astrology uses the positions of stars and planets to predict the future, the Mayans plotted their calendars with the objective of preparing for significant world events.[19]

Critics suggest that the alignment in question takes place over a 36-year period, corresponding to the diameter of the Sun, with the most precise convergence having already occurred without incident in 1998.[20] Also, Jenkins himself notes that there is no concrete evidence that the Maya were aware of precession.[21]


[edit] Timewave zero
See also: Technological singularity and Omega Point

A screenshot of the Timewave Zero software.Timewave zero, which is part of Novelty theory, is a mathematical formula that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of "novelty", defined as increase in the universe's interconnectedness, or organised complexity,[22] over time. According to Terence McKenna, who conceived the idea in the early 1970s, the universe has a teleological attractor at the end of time that increases interconnectedness, eventually reaching a singularity of infinite complexity on December 21, 2012, at which point anything and everything imaginable will occur instantaneously.

McKenna expressed novelty in a computer program, which purportedly produces a fractal waveform known as timewave zero or the timewave. Based on McKenna's interpretation of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching,[23] the graph appears to show great periods of novelty corresponding with major shifts in humanity's biological and cultural evolution. He believed the events of any given time are recursively related to the events of other times, and chose his end date by looking for a very novel event in recent history: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This gave an end-date in mid-November of 2012, but when he discovered its proximity to the end of the 13th baktun, he adjusted the end date to match this point in the calendar.[24][25]

Professional mathematicians and scientists would consider McKenna's sources and reasoning to be primarily numerological rather than mathematical, and they generally have not taken his theory seriously. The theory was, however, revised by nuclear physicist John Sheliak[26] after British mathematician Matthew Watkins argued that he had found a flaw in it.[27] The new revision is often referred to as Timewave One, but is also included in the set of alternate waves in the Timewave Zero software.[28]


[edit] End of the world
See also: Nibiru collision
Various ideas have been advanced concerning a possible end of the world in 2012. One idea involves a geomagnetic reversal (often incorrectly referred to as a polar shift by proponents of this theory), which could be triggered by a massive solar flare, one with energy equal to 100 million atomic bombs.[29] This is supported by evidence that the Earth's magnetic field is weakening,[30] which indicates an impending reversal of the north and south magnetic poles. Scientists believe the Earth is overdue for a geomagnetic reversal, and has been for a long time, even since the time of the Mayans, because the last reversal was 780,000 years ago.[31] Critics, however, claim geomagnetic reversals take up to 5,000 years to complete, and do not start on any particular date. Also, while NASA expects a particularly strong solar maximum sometime around 2012,[32] there is no scientific evidence linking a solar maximum to a geomagnetic reversal.[33] Such an event would be mostly notable for its effects on satellite and cellular phone communications.[32]

Another apocalyptic idea circulating about 2012, which has existed in various forms since 1995 and has changed dates at least twice since then, is that a large planet, called Nibiru, will collide with or pass by Earth in that year. This idea has been ridiculed by astronomers, who point out that such an object so close to Earth would be visible to anyone looking up at the night sky.[34]