2012: End of the World?

1. 2012: End of the World? Or not?

2. Why and how I chose my topic: • I chose this topic because I wasn’t happy with how my original topic, relating to the Afghanistan war, was going. • I chose it because my friend was freaking out about 2012, and it got me to thinking.

3. Guiding Questions: • My original guiding questions were: • Why December 2012? • What do people think will happen? • What do scientists think about the 2012 apocalypse theory?

4. What is the 2012 Apocalypse Theory? • The 2012 apocalypse theory is the belief that the world will end, be hit by a major catastrophe or undergo a major change, on December 21, 2012.

5. Why December 21, 2012? • It is believed by some that the world will end on this date because of indications in the Mayan Calendar. • This date will mark the ending of the current ‘Long Count’ as well as the current ‘Procession Cycle’ on the Mayan calendar.

6. What’s the Mayan Calendar? • The Mayan Calendar is made up of several complex calendars used in conjunction by the ancient Mayans. • The Main calendars were the Tzolk’in (260 days) and the Haab (365 days) In conjunction, these make up 52 Haabs (years)

7. The Calendar used to track long periods of time is referred to as the Long Count, consisting of 5,125 Haabs (years). • The Procession Cycle is the 26,000 Haab (year) long calendar which marks the procession of the equinoxes.

8. The Prophets of Doom: • The most well known 2012 ‘prophet’ is Nostradamus. • References to 2012 have been ‘found’ in religious writings, and have been taken by those who found them as a message from a higher power. These findings have been found to be completely coincidental and unrelated to 2012.

9. Nostradamus • Nostradamus was a 16th century French doctor. • After his wife and children were killed by the bubonic plague, he was said to go into frequent meditative states, where he claimed to see ‘visions’ • Many of his predictions, compiled in his book ‘Centuries’ were related to future catastrophes, and some have been said to refer to 2012.

10. Some wacky predictions… • The return of Planet X, since it we weren’t destroyed in 2003 when this was supposed to kill us all, it’s back for 2012. • A Zombie Invasion. There has been something of zombie craze lately, and some 2012 theorists have jumped on the bandwagon, believing that the world will be over run by zombies.

11. Is it plausible? • The scientific community has completely discredited the 2012 theories, insisting that they are false. • Nostradamus’ predictions are cryptic and easily misinterpreted. • The Mayan calendar is a circle, the calendar is never ending completely, because it is a continuous cycle, and it begins again as soon as it ends.

12. If the 2012 apocalypse did happen? • The world would end by some large, probably dramatic, disaster. • A change? This could refer to any number of things, it could be a change for the better, or a change for the worst.

13. What did the Mayans think? • While there is little evidence supporting the belief that the Mayans thought anything was going to happen on this date, the little known indicates that they thought it would be the beginning of an Age of Enlightenment; some kind of religious miracle.

14. What do Scientists think? • The scientific community has discredited the 2012 theory in its entirety. • There is no scientific proof to back up any end-of-the-world theory. • Scientists believe that all ‘evidence’ is entirely co-incidental, and that people want to believe something is going to happen, so they came up with an apocalypse theory.

15. What do Students think?

16. Thanks for watching! Presentation by: Jenny Helman