Counting Down to 2012

Here is my bold prediction for what is going to happen in 2012; there will be earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, volcanic eruptions, political and social unrest and lots of changes in the world. In other words, nothing much different from what has gone on every single year since the beginning of human history.

On the other hand, there are people who claim that something will occur in 2012 that will be so unique and unprecedented that it can only be regarded as the end or beginning of an age, part of some pre-determined cosmic cycle that ancient civilizations have been aware of for eons. First, there are the doomsayers who predict various catastrophes that could end life as we know it on planet earth. Then there are those who claim that 2012 will usher in something more vague and ambiguous such as a “new world age” or some kind of transformation or shift.

These predictions are based on a variety of things such as the Mayan calendar, various prophecies and events contained in indigenous mythology and folklore, messages from channeled entities, astrology and even the writings of Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus. In the January/February 2010 issue of Unity Magazine, the cover story featured an interview with author Gregg Braden whose recent book is called “Fractal Time; The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age.”

After reading the interview, I was left with far more questions than answers. I find it difficult to understand why we would decide to take indigenous mythology and prophecy literally when the Unity movement generally opts for an allegorical approach when it comes to scripture.

Mr. Braden seems to be saying these myths are authoritative because modern research has confirmed the accuracy of ancient Hopi prophecy telling of a time when the planet froze over and stopped spinning. I would love to see the research that verifies that one. Sure, we have had several ice age cycles but there is absolutely no evidence that the earth ever stopped spinning.

Consider this; I’ve checked across several sources which state that the earth’s mass is around six septillion kilograms. That’s a 6 followed by 24 zeros. At the equator, the surface of the earth is moving at a speed of around 1,000 MPH. I would be interested to hear from a physicist about the amount of energy that it would take to counteract that combination of mass and velocity and the effect it would have on the very structure of the planet itself.

Then, according to the Hindu Vedas, we are supposed to be in a “Kali Yuga” characterized by unreasonable rulers, addictions, famine, death and victimization. When has the world not been in a “Kali Yuga”?

Other support for a 2012 special event comes from Aztec cosmology characterized by cycles ending with great winds, fire from the sky and global cooling. The world has been experiencing these events in the form of volcanoes, asteroids, lightning, floods and windstorms for millions of years. These stories sound a bit mundane in the grand scheme of things.

Then we have Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus telling us that the new millennium would bring great change. So did the last millennium. Why is this one so different and why should we accept the authority of Cayce and Nostradamus? It is so easy to take ambiguous prophecies and quatrains after the fact and through a process of observational selection, find circumstances that fit and then call it a hit. Let’s hear about the many misses as well and then decide.

Anyone remember the “harmonic convergence” in 1987? That was another “new world age” event predicted by astrology and the Mayan calendar that was to usher in an era of peace and cooperation. Although nothing specific happened, people look back and say that the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of Apartheid and the reunification of Germany followed 1987 which is proof that the convergence happened.

Another name for that kind of observational selection is cherry picking; choosing the positive events after the fact in order to support a theory and ignoring the negative stuff like the earthquake that hit Los Angeles in October 1987. In 1988 the U.S. shot down an Iranian airliner killing 209 and a Pan Am 747 was blown up by terrorists over Lockerbie Scotland. 1989 brought the Tiananmen Square massacre followed by the Persian Gulf War in 1990. In other words, the world went on as it always had with delight followed by disaster.

Finally, we have something called “The Time Code Calculator” which uses a mathematical formula based on fractals to allow us to calculate when an event from the past might repeat. For example, using the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor as a seed event, the calculator predicts future times when conditions are ripe for an attack on the U.S. Sure enough, go to the calculator at greggbraden.com, put it in mode one, input December 1941 and keep working forward from the dates you get and you will come to 2001 and everyone knows what happened in 2001. Except the calculator says June of 2001. Close enough I guess.

In the interest of science, I would like to hear some independent opinions from mathematicians and physicists. One of the keys to claiming any kind of reliable knowledge is the peer review process which is totally lacking here. In light of the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January of this year, I looked up the calculator and put in June 1770, the date of the last known quake in Port Au Prince. The closest date that came up was October 2009. Does that count as a hit? After all, it was only off by 3 months.

Every year brings with it at least one event of unprecedented significance. Attempting to rank one as more significant than another is folly. Would anyone care to argue that the holocaust was more or less significant than the abolition of slavery or that the American Revolution was a more pivotal event than the Protestant Reformation?

I’m more concerned about the fact that in the USA today, slightly more than 60% of our population does not accept the scientific validity of evolution. One of those people seems to be starting a run for President in 2012 and she also believes in demons and witchcraft. Maybe 2012 is something to be afraid of after all.