Doomsday 2012?
Dire predictions of the end of the world (end of days, Armageddon, and so on) happen at least once every generation, whenever someone thinks that there’s money to be made by inciting mass panic (or at least, mass concern). Once again, we have another one: doomsday 2012.
- In the 1970s, the alignment of the planets was supposed to spell certain doom. But we’re still here.
- Then, Y2K was to be the end. But here I am.
- Now, it’s 2012,
- And later, it will be 2038, when the number of seconds that have elapsed since the beginning of 1970 can no longer be fully represented in a 32-bit word. If left uncorrected, this could cause problems in computer-based applications, much as Y2K did. But they’ve got 27 years to fix it. So I think they’ll make it.
Thus, while I cannot say for certain that the world will not end on doomsday 2012, doomsday 2038, doomsday 2100, Etc., I can say that those making these claims cannot be rationally any more certain of their assertions than am I. I don’t know, and neither do they. Doomsday 2012? It’s an unlikely possibility at best.