"2012" Mayan Prediction Could be Off by a Century

The date most commonly associated in popular culture as being the end of the world is December 21st, 2012 - the day the Mayan long count calendar finally comes to an end and a new era begins. But is this date accurate? No, according to one professor at the University of California.


Gerardo Aldana, a professor at the university says that the current calculations of the calendar make many assumptions that simply have not been taken into consideration. He suggests that the real date of the calendar could be up to a hundred years off, meaning even if it does suggest the end of the world it may not actually happen within our own lifetimes. This comes as relief to many in the new age movement who suggest the end of the calendar will be indicative of the end of the world.


It has often been a matter of curiosity among scholars and skeptics alike what the world will look like on dawn of December 21st 2012 in a little over two years. Will the sun rise on chaos sweeping across the Earth? Will it see nothing more than a barren wasteland of people barely clinging on to the last morsels left on Earth and attempting to eek out an existence in a barren and unforgiving wasteland? Or will it see a world left uneasy by the predictions made for the past decade and simply trying to chuckle away the uneasy apprehension that will be all encompassing?



Though it may not have an effect directly, the very belief that the world is coming to an end could have an impact on any number of economic and social aspects of life on Earth. But this inaccuracy illustrated by Dr. Aldana may put a stopper on the mass panic that could potentially break out in the coming hours before the date comes to pass.


There is a great deal of temptation in our society to oversimplify things, and the 2012 phenomenon may actually be another indicator. We no longer would have to face up to the responsibility of nuclear disarmament, the countless years involved in the space race, coming economic crises, and famine if there was a clandestine apocalypse on the next page of mankind's history preordained to either wipe out humanity or decidedly make everything better forever (or at least a few thousand years). So the 2012 date may be changed, but another will arise inevitably given enough time to take away the sting of constant perseverance through adversity.


Aldana's prediction also believed that many other dates throughout Mayan history have in fact been wrong as well by possibly hundreds of years. But is the 2012 prediction's possible inaccuracy reason to sit tight and breath a sigh of relief? Perhaps not yet.


If mankind is to enjoy a fruitful and happy existence in the coming ten years it will be delivered as a result of hard work and determination resulting from planning ahead just as we have done with some consistency throughout history.