So about that Mayan Apocalypse...

[Gahars]

We're all on the internet (formerly the net, formerly the information superhighway, formerly the internet) right now, so I feel safe in assuming that everyone here has at least heard of the Mayan Apocalypse idea that people have just latched onto.

You know how the calendar supposedly pulls an "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and has a jarring, abrupt ending? Well, a recent discovery kind of, sort of shows that to be absolutely false.

The oldest-known version of the ancient Maya calendar has been discovered adorning a lavishly painted wall in the ruins of a city deep in the Guatemalan rainforest.

The hieroglyphs, painted in black and red, along with a colorful mural of a king and his mysterious attendants, seem to have been a sort of handy reference chart for court scribes in A.D. 800 — the astronomers and mathematicians of their day. Contrary to popular myth, this calendar isn't a countdown to the end of the world in December 2012, the study researchers said.

"The Mayan calendar is going to keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future," said archaeologist David Stuart of the University of Texas, who worked to decipher the glyphs. "Numbers we can't even wrap our heads around."

...The Maya recorded time in a series of cycles, including 400-year chunks called baktuns. It's these baktuns that have led to rumors of an end-of-the-world catastrophe on Dec. 21, 2012 — on that date, a cycle of 13 baktuns will be complete. But the idea that this meansthe end of the world is a misconception, Stuart said. In fact, Maya experts have known for a long time that the calendar doesn't end after the 13th baktun. It simply begins a new cycle. And the calendar encompasses much larger units than the baktun.

Live Science (The article goes on about the discovery and its exact significance, if you're interested.)

If you really needed the extra confirmation, here it is: The Mayans did not predict that the world would end December 21, 2012. All predictions based around that idea are bunk, pure and simple.

So yeah. Sorry to rain on your apocalypse parade, everybody. If you're really banking on the extermination of the human race anytime soon, you could always turn to good, old, reliable nuclear weapons (or a super virus if you're hip and with it).

 

[Foxi4]

Yeah, that is correct and has been proven numerous times which doesn't stop people from thinking that the end is nigh, much like you won't convince them that Nostradamus didn't predict the WTC attack.

 

[DS1]

People think the world is going to end because of some crazy prediction, and you're trying to appeal to them with something from a science journal? Time to lose the monocle snobbington.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

People still believe in this?

 

[Gahars]

Oh, I'm sure that people will still hold on to the Mayan "theory" even after this. The justifications are just going to become more entertaining.

 

[BORTZ]

I like the part where we think we can predict the end of the world. And i mean that in a general sense.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Great, humanity will continue to decline. I was hoping it would all be wiped out at the end of the year.

 

[The Catboy]

Awwwww, I was hoping for this "end of the world" to be real this time [/sarcasm]

 

[Codename]

We're all on the internet (formerly the net, formerly the information superhighway, formerly the internet) right now, so I feel safe in assuming that everyone here has at least heard of the Mayan Apocalypse idea that people have just latched onto.

You know how the calendar supposedly pulls an "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and has a jarring, abrupt ending? Well, a recent discovery kind of, sort of shows that to be absolutely false.

The oldest-known version of the ancient Maya calendar has been discovered adorning a lavishly painted wall in the ruins of a city deep in the Guatemalan rainforest.

The hieroglyphs, painted in black and red, along with a colorful mural of a king and his mysterious attendants, seem to have been a sort of handy reference chart for court scribes in A.D. 800 — the astronomers and mathematicians of their day. Contrary to popular myth, this calendar isn't a countdown to the end of the world in December 2012, the study researchers said.

"The Mayan calendar is going to keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future," said archaeologist David Stuart of the University of Texas, who worked to decipher the glyphs. "Numbers we can't even wrap our heads around."

...The Maya recorded time in a series of cycles, including 400-year chunks called baktuns. It's these baktuns that have led to rumors of an end-of-the-world catastrophe on Dec. 21, 2012 — on that date, a cycle of 13 baktuns will be complete. But the idea that this meansthe end of the world is a misconception, Stuart said. In fact, Maya experts have known for a long time that the calendar doesn't end after the 13th baktun. It simply begins a new cycle. And the calendar encompasses much larger units than the baktun.

Live Science (The article goes on about the discovery and its exact significance, if you're interested.)

If you really needed the extra confirmation, here it is: The Mayans did not predict that the world would end December 21, 2012. All predictions based around that idea are bunk, pure and simple.

So yeah. Sorry to rain on your apocalypse parade, everybody. If you're really banking on the extermination of the human race anytime soon, you could always turn to good, old, reliable nuclear weapons (or a super virus if you're hip and with it).

A super virus, eh? How about 'em T-Abyss that Jessica and Raymond managed to save.......

 

[Gahars]

@shuastereno

Resident Evil predicts the end of the world next? Does that make Capcom the new Mayans?

 

[Janthran]

I still like the "history repeating itself" idea better. Meh.

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Wasn't it that some other religious group saying for the past few hundred years that the world is gonna end?

 

[Thesolcity]

So out of curiosity what do the cycles represent? Is it a noticeable change? (Not apocalypse-wise, mind you.) I'm just curious on what decides these cycles.

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

@shuastereno

Resident Evil predicts the end of the world next? Does that make Capcom the new Mayans?

You know, Wesker has been giving me the eye... Maybe it's a sign D:

 

[DS1]

@shuastereno

Resident Evil predicts the end of the world next? Does that make Capcom the new Mayans?

You know, Wesker has been giving me the eye... Maybe it's a sign D:

Times like this I wish I had a 10-minute loop of him saying, "DO I FRIGHTEN YOU? DO I FRIGHTEN YOU? DO I FRIGHTEN YOU? DO I...."

 

[Deleted User]

@shuastereno

Resident Evil predicts the end of the world next? Does that make Capcom the new Mayans?

You know, Wesker has been giving me the eye... Maybe it's a sign D:

Good thing he's dead.

 

[Gahars]

Wasn't it that some other religious group saying for the past few hundred years that the world is gonna end?

That's been going on for quite a while from a variety of different groups and people. If you're interested, this article is certainly a fun read.

So out of curiosity what do the cycles represent? Is it a noticeable change? (Not apocalypse-wise, mind you.) I'm just curious on what decides these cycles.

I could be entirely wrong (please correct me if I am), but it just seems to go by the passage of time. I'd imagine it would be significant for them the same way the turn of a new century or millennium is for us.

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

Good thing he's dead.

Wesker never dies

For as long as he has ba--- Nevermind


Anyway, I never fell for the Mayan prediction trick. I'm curious as to what the next one will be, though. Maybe they'll say Atlantis will rise on May 6, 2013 and let out a deadly fart gas that will kill everyone on Earth.

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Wasn't it that some other religious group saying for the past few hundred years that the world is gonna end?

That's been going on for quite a while from a variety of different groups and people. If you're interested, this article is certainly a fun read.

It is a fun read and I love how there is a prediction for May 27 and thats in a few weeks.

 

[gamefan5]

Once people said that the world was gonna end in 2000. (Due to it being the end of another century).
We survived.
People said that the end was gonna end in the 6th of June 2006. (666 being the number of the devil)
We survived.
People said that the world was gonna end in October 21 2011 for what again? Oh yeah.. a physical rapture and end of the world.
We survived.
Apparently according to a psychic, Jesus Christ is supposed to come in May 27th of 2012. I can't wait to see him. (oh yeah, and apocalyptic events soon follows after that.)
I'm pretty sure we'll survive.
And then there's the all-acclaimed end of the world in 21st of December 2012. So many conspiracies.