What’s the new what? I think 2012 is the new Y2K.

“By now most of us have heard of the millennium bug, and the potential threat it posses to businesses and computers”

During the late 1900’s, there were various predictions on the year 2000. Many people were afraid computer programs were going to confuse the year 2000 with the year 1900 causing airplanes to crash, confusion in banks, and computer shut downs.

Others believed that the end of the world was coming. The year 2000 came, and everything was as normal.

Well, today we have 2012. Here’s Jose Sanchez, a freshman at Santa Monica College. I asked him why we should believe the Mayan calendar is true.

“Their descriptions and their prophecies, they were able to make good predictions that corresponded to the time period they predicted. The arrival of Cortes. One of their gods was going to return, I guess they thought it was Cortes. And he brought a lot of changes; it said their culture was gonna change.”

The Mayan Calendar, is not the only theory going around these days. There is also the one about the Earth flipping causing the north to face south  due to the Earth’s hum rising. According to experts the Earths’ hum has risen from 7.5 to 11. There’s also a theory on a new planet being really close to the earth. We can't see it yet, but we will soon, and then it will hit us!

Reading about some of these theories, I have to say some of them started making sense. Could it be? Were they real?

“We do know that the Mayans carved this calendar stones and they had these very sophisticated mathematical understanding of solar and lunar cycles, they counted a time far ahead into the future.”

That’s USC professor Stephen O’Leary. He has been studying theories of the apocalypse for years.

“But the Mayans don't say anything or what don't have any texts where they predict or make prophecies about what will happen. And it's become kind of mini-industry, so many people who are not only predicting, but making money out of these predictions. So I think there is a good reason to be skeptical. These interpretations are new, they are not from the Mayans themselves. They are the product of contemporary interpreters who are reading an apocalyptic meaning into the Mayan time calculations.”

Recently professor O'Leary was even asked to start a class dealing on the 2012 phenomenon. I asked him how these random dates for the end of the world even get started.

“If I tell you that one or the other disaster or millennial fulfillment and world peace is coming, you don't simply seat back and say ok, I can't wait. You want to know when is going to happen. And if I tell you it will happen in one million years people will go back to channel surfing, and not pay attention anymore. But if I tell you it will happen in 30 seconds the argument self-destructs very quickly. So there's a kind of a sweet spot, a time zone where predictions like this attains maximum traction with the audience and that's roughly from 2 to 5 years.”
Ok, that all makes sense, but why even come up with these ideas?

“You know the future is terrifying, it's also potentially a wonderful field of possibilities. And when we think about the future, it's very hard to live in the moment. Your day to day live is boring and you have a boss who treats you badly and you hate your job and even if you have a good job, you day dream about how things could get better. These kinds of predictions come from dissatisfaction with the present. Now people have predicted the end of the world for thousand of years. But we now have nuclear weapons, which could if used in a global war eradicate all human life. Or global warming presents a very real threat.”

Many people are unhappy, confused, and frustrated with the world we live in today. I don't think the end of the world is upon us. But sometimes knowing the world could end, makes us feel like it's worth living.

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