One thing it’s just occurred to me to wonder about - why do doomsayers most often prognosticate that the world will end suddenly in 2012 (or whenever)?
if they’re going for shock value (and let’s face it, they are), surely it would be more terrifying to declare that the world will end gradually in 2012.
OK, makes sense to me… I’m conscious of a round Earth though. For all I know, I may not be come June 30, 2025. All matter may look square to me then.:D:D:confused:
The world will end with a bang, followed by a whimper. 
The end of the Universe occured approximately 13.7 billion years ago. Of course, that was the front end: It remains to be seen whether it’ll have a back end.
Any fool knows the world will end in exactly
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that, for destruction, ice
Is also great
And would suffice
All right, Frost has the process laid out nicely; but he left out the friggin’ date! And how exactly does anthropogenic climate change play into this?
Pournelle does know, does he not, that England freezing over is one of the anticipated consequences of global warming?
I thought that theory had pretty much been discounted (about England freezing over and the whole Atlantic Conveyor thingy causing a northern ice age…or whatever). No?
-XT
I don’t think so. If the Gulf Stream is disrupted, Western Europe gets colder. Maybe not Ice Age cold, but colder.
Now, now. Mayan prophecy doesn’t say the world will end in 2012, it’s merely the end of the Long Count cycle. Which basically means, the entire Universe will undergo a cold shutdown & reboot, system scan & defrag, and re-installation from an offsite backup copy.
The upshot of this is, hardly anyone will notice the brand new cycle at all, except perhaps for a slight tingling in your ears and a strong sensation of deja-vu.
Hahaha, that is the most concise description of that I’ve ever heard.
Didn’t Michael J. Fox already make a movie about this, Baktun the Future?
Surely we can hold out until 2112, just so we can watch the final apocalyptic battle between the ravening hoards of Rush fans who will waging war on the insane cadre of die-hard Ayn Rand fanatics.
When the world ends, it will all be caused by a few stray luftballoons.
99 of them?
-XT
Scenario: The Large Hadron Collider is finally fixed (after the infusion of another several billion $$$ backed by US mortgage securities) and with great hoopla on 1 July 2012 produces the answer to Unified Field Theory. And, a small black hole that eats the planet followed by the solar system.
Also, my entry for the 2012 Dead Pool: Everyone.:):)
And the winner will be eaten by Cthulu!
(C’mon, people, you’re slacking off. No love for Cthulu? Here?)
It will be on a Thursday, when Earth is unxpectedly demolished to make a new hyperspace bypass.
