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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2987651 No.2987651 [Reply] [Original]

Can /sci/ give me a rational reason why the mayans supposedly predicted the end of the world in 2012? I've read the Mayans were experts when it came to astronomy, so I believe if they did predicted a doomsday, it must have been related to some asteroid/shifting poles etc. Anyone have any input on this?

>> No.2987656

They ran out of space on the carving. Occams razor.

>> No.2987665
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2987665

>> No.2987672

They didn't predict the end of the world. They maked that date as the end of one 'age' and the beginning of another (wikipedia tells me these are called b'ak'tun and are periods of 394.3 years)

>> No.2987696

I'm not sure where, but I've read that our solar system will be passing through the middle of our galaxy? Is this possible?

>> No.2987706

>>2987696
Supposedly the sun lines up the ecliptic and the core of the galaxy on the winter solstice. I don't know what they'll think that'll do though, they probably watched Hercules when they were a kid / teen / stoned / drunk

>> No.2987719

>I've read the Mayans were experts when it came to astronomy
Compared to us? They are very primitive.

Which I guess is what you expect from a primitive civilization.

>> No.2987771

I hope people take this shit seriously and an hero en masse. Best Darwin Awards year ever.

>> No.2987779

ive heard people say all the planets will line up and that will trigger some cosmic event but what they fail to realise is that the planets align every december

>> No.2987803

their number system doesn't support anything later than it. they could have made a new symbol but 2012 was thousands of years away then and they didn't give a fuck

>> No.2987812

>>2987651
The Mayans calendar was cyclic. 2012 is the end of a cycle. Due to the fact that 2012 was quite far away for them, they didn't name the new age yet.
No special secret astronomical events. Although the Mayans were relatively good at studying the cosmos, they are far inferior to us.

>> No.2987817

There is nothing to worry about in 2012, at least related to this.

1. The 'end date' often cited is just the end date of one specific calender they found. There are other calenders unearthed that all have different end dates. Basically yeah, the person making them had to stop somewhere, since they did not have a repeating calender like we have.

2. Based on the mayan cycle of time and the way they measure it, there is little significance to 2012. They broke down time into various chunks of years, 2012 only 'rolls over' one of the mid-tier counts of years, it would be like a new week on our calender, not a total reset to a new year, or in their case, not a complete reset of time.

>> No.2987841

This should help, OP
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/2012-the-end-of-the-world/

>> No.2987846

>>2987817
But that's wrong.
The Mayans had a repeating calander. Unlike us.
For us, the years increase by one every year. The mayans had cycles spanning several years, and cycles that included a number of these cycles. In theory, they even had cycles of those things.. They just never wrote it down, because it wasn't an issue.
And you're right about it not even being one of those huge cycles that they didn't write down.

>> No.2987849

>>2987706
It does, but
1. it's part of a 36,000 year cycle, nothing special
2. There was a more exact alignment in 1999

>> No.2987860
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2987860

here beekeepers, the harmonic convergence already happened in 1987: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_Convergence

>> No.2987867

The Mayan calendar runs out in 2220, not in 2012.

>> No.2987870
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2987870

Posting the inforgraphic, because it's rather good

>> No.2987874
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2987874

2/<span class="math">2^{2}[/spoiler]

>> No.2987879
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2987879

3/<span class="math">3^{3}-3*8+3^{0}[/spoiler]

>> No.2987881
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2987881

1/1

>> No.2987893

because the milky way spins and the sky from earth's view changes. all lunar calendars begins a new cycle on the same date

>> No.2987943

This whole theory is a load of uninformed crap. The Mayan calendar is cyclical. Unlike our current system, in which the year number continues to increase, the Mayan year count resets at a set value. Just like our hours reset from 24 to 1at the start of each day, and out months start again each year, so do the Mayan years cycle through their possible values over time. 2012 is simply the time when their year count returns to its beginning.

Read here if you want a brief description of how everything works:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar#2012_and_the_Long_Count

>> No.2987948

>>2987943
>trying to explain this simple fact to trolls

>> No.2987955

>>2987651

Oh, they didn't. It's just that their year numbering system ends at what we would call 21st of December 2012. After that, a new cycle would begin.

Similar to our month numbering system ending at 12 (December), after that January begins again. No one ever considered this coincidence to be a doomsday prophecy for some reason.

>> No.2987960

>>2987955

Also

> implying that exactly 2011 years passed after the death of Christ right noe
> implying even if that was true that was of any meaning

>> No.2987965

>>2987960
>implying the person described as Jesus of Nazareth ever existed, and wasn't just an invention by Saul of Tarsus cobbled together from previous mythological messiah figures as a figurehead for his new judaic splinter sect.

>> No.2987983

It pisses me off how all of you can talk about how primitive you think the Mayans were when most of their theories and ideas were burned by the Christians.

I don't believe the world will end in 2012, but the Mayans were likely as advanced or more than us in Astronomy (clearly nothing else, though).

>> No.2988011

>>2987965

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Jesus

>> No.2988038
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2988038

>>2988011
Yes, that is what Christians are taught to have faith in.

Most of which was codified by Rome 200 years after he was supposed to have lived.

Faith is not evidence, but I don't need faith to know you're gay as Dash.

>> No.2988058
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2988058

>>2988038

> implying i believe in Jesus/god

Actually, i did not imply there has been a person called Jesus if you reread the original post again.

y u pickin on me so hard?

>> No.2988065

>predicted the end of the world

They didn't. Now let this thread die.

>> No.2988081

>>2988058
>>>>implying the person described as Jesus of Nazareth ever existed, and wasn't just an invention by Saul of Tarsus cobbled together from previous mythological messiah figures as a figurehead for his new judaic splinter sect.

Also, I just snorted an 8-ball of cocaine, and now I'm gonna start drinking another bottle of rum.