# What (exactly) is supposed to happen in 2012? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404 "2009-11-05T09:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/21 "2009-11-05T19:19:50Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I have a friend who believes, based on Fingerprints Of The Gods, that in 2012 the earth’s magnetic field will shift and cause great catastrophe. I thought he was talking about polar shift. 😕 > **[Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_shift)** > > The cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis is a pseudo-scientific claim that there have been recent, geologically rapid shifts in the axis of rotation of Earth, causing calamities such as floods and tectonic events or relatively rapid climate changes. > There is evidence of precession and changes in axial tilt, but this change is on much longer time-scales and does not involve relative motion of the spin axis with respect to the planet. However, in what is known as true polar wander, the Earth rotates ... ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/22 "2009-11-05T19:31:00Z")
On December 22nd, 2012, the alien invasion begins. I thought everyone knew that. God, Mulder was right, people are so blind. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/23 "2009-11-05T19:37:38Z")
There’s that Olympic thing in London. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/24 "2009-11-05T20:25:24Z")
All I can tell you is that I’m cowering in fear of Y2K. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/25 "2009-11-05T22:15:02Z")
The previews of the movie show the world breaking up and people running . To where? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/26 "2009-11-05T22:17:49Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The previews of the movie show the world breaking up and people running . To where? To Target! Have you seen their low low prices on Christmas decorations!? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/27 "2009-11-06T02:57:50Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > And unless we can predict exactly whereabouts within our galaxy we are\* going to be, how can you know if something is going to be crossing our trajectory? 'Cos it [comes back](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_collision) every 3,600 years. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404/28 "2009-11-10T18:37:40Z")
Just a quick update, since it seems that the question has been answered on National Geographic in a stunning show about 2012! One would think that, being National Geographic, that the show would have been a carefully crafted debunking of the whole 2012 myth, going into details about how ancient calenders were often cyclical, and making the analogy about an odometer turning over from 999999 to 000000 (and the neither the car nor the world ending…though it would be interesting to see a car with a million miles on it :)). But no…based on keen ‘science’, NGC has found that what will happen is (wait for it…)…GLOBAL WARMING. Yes, that’s where this is leading…in 2012 we’ll have sudden and traumatic climate shift, just like the sudden climate shift that apparently happened 5200 years ago causing massive glaciers where the ancestors of the Mayan possibly lived. And starting their clock at that time, ending at the next cycle on December 21st (or possibly 23rd) in 2012! You heard it here first folks…mass climate change! Rising global floods! Dogs and cats living together! The ancient Mayan were right! (Anyone wanting a laugh should check it out. And Global Warming advocates wonder why sometimes it’s hard to take them seriously, when this kind of thing is worked into what is supposedly a show grounded in science) -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-supposed-to-happen-in-2012/516404.md?page=1)