# Why do many people seem to think that the world will end on May 21, 2011? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 24, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621 "2010-05-24T21:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/41 "2010-05-25T14:30:43Z")
[Potassium-Argon dating.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%E2%80%93Ar_dating) It’s a common tactic to challenge the validity of radiometric dating by saying that the rate of radioactive decay can’t be said to have been constant throughout time. I suspect someone along the line misunderstood the concept of exponential decay and propagated this nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/42 "2010-05-25T14:53:32Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > Well this is great, just one year from now and we’ll finally have a definitive answer. Yes, we will. And the answer will be “due to a slight miscalculation, a few more years into the future”, because armageddon doesn’t keep those nickels and dimes flowing into the bank accounts of the charlatans who make their livings off of predicting it. The ranks of the deluded are ever eager to pay for the _frisson_ they get from the certainty of oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/43 "2010-05-25T15:43:51Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I love arguing with calvinists - the whole predestination thing is silly. Are Calvinist ministers pre-ordained? 😃 > [@Dewey Finn](#): > > What’s this about the relationship between potassium and argon gas? > [@Raygun99](#): > > Potassium-Argon dating Fie! Dating outside your group is clearly against the laws of God and nature. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/44 "2010-05-25T15:49:48Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > [Potassium-Argon dating.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%E2%80%93Ar_dating) It’s a common tactic to challenge the validity of radiometric dating by saying that the rate of radioactive decay can’t be said to have been constant throughout time. I suspect someone along the line misunderstood the concept of exponential decay and propagated this nonsense. Interesting. I forgot about that after high school. I’d heard of Carbon-14 dating. I don’t think **jasourdough** will be enthused about that either. Now that I think about it, **jasourdough** , does it matter that you were drastically wrong about the timing of [the proposed population bottlenecks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Humans)? If you’re going to accuse people of having “blind faith” in science you should probably take care not to get both science _and_ the Bible wrong at the same time. Those mistakes show you believe in your story even though the facts don’t support it, which could be described as… well, you know. But the fact is that these bottlenecks are theorized and not proven, so they don’t provide much support for your view. And if they do, you got all the details wrong: the bottlenecks happened too early and were not narrow enough. > [@](#): > > Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has postulated that human mitochondrial DNA (inherited only from one’s mother) and Y chromosome DNA (from one’s father) show coalescence at around 140,000 and 60,000 years ago respectively. […] > This is consistent with the Toba catastrophe theory which suggests that a bottleneck of the human population occurred c. 70,000 years ago, proposing that the human population was reduced to c.15,000 individuals Note that this is around 65,000 years too early for your theory, and that if the population never got lower than about 15,000, Noah is gonna need a bigger boat. > [@](#): > > On the other hand, in 2000, a Molecular Biology and Evolution paper suggested a transplanting model or a ‘long bottleneck’ to account for the limited genetic variation, rather than a catastrophic environmental change.[7] This would be consistent with suggestions that in sub-Saharan Africa numbers could have dropped at times as low as 2,000, for perhaps as long as 100,000 years, before numbers began to expand again in the Late Stone Age. This is a smaller number over a longer period of time - so it was not caused by a catastrophe like a flood - but it’s still tens of thousands of years before “Noah.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/45 "2010-05-25T15:49:57Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Raygun99](#): > > > > Potassium-Argon dating > > Fie! Dating outside your group is clearly against the laws of God and nature. KAr dates, no less! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/46 "2010-05-25T15:51:55Z")
> [@](#): > > “No man knows the day or the hour” is not equal to “No man will ever know the day or the hour”. So what are you saying? That “No man knows the day of the hour” was correct at the time it was written but is no longer correct? That parts of the Bible were true in the past but are no longer true? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/47 "2010-05-25T15:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. “Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that’s 1,978 years.” This whole theory is based on an unusual claim made on _April Fools’ Day?_ Heh. . ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/48 "2010-05-25T15:52:18Z")
All I know is, the _last_ time there was some definitive date that the world was going to end, I thought 1) “Ain’t no way in hell …” and 2) “Yabbut, just in case, I’m not doing laundry!” At the time, I had to hand-wash every item of clothing I wore, and there was no way I was spending my last day of existence scrubbing my undies. You know. Just in case. (The next day, the sun rose as normal and I went back to my regularly scheduled chores, including washing my clothes.) Making a mental note to do no laundry and enjoy some quality heathen sinning on both May 21, 2011 and December 2012. Just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/49 "2010-05-25T15:56:57Z")
And why is it that everyone who says they have decoded the Bible or some other ancient source and discovered the date for the end of the world always discovers it’s right around the corner? Why doesn’t anyone ever discover that the end of the world is going to happen on November 10, 3084? ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/50 "2010-05-25T16:11:52Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > During. Everyone will feel compelled to go to their local low-rent fast food place and order a hamburger. The world will end, not with a bang, but with a Wimpy’s. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Fie! Dating outside your group is clearly against the laws of God and nature. I love you guys. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/51 "2010-05-25T16:22:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why doesn’t anyone ever discover that the end of the world is going to happen on November 10, 3084? It’s November **11** , 3084… get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/52 "2010-05-25T17:04:47Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > This is fun - I realized there were probably adults out there who believed the Noah flood story to be actually true, but I’ve never run across one in real life. To me, it’s like arguing that the Cinderella story actually happened just like it’s told, or Paul Bunyan, or … You think _this_ is good, you should try talking to a “flat-earther”. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/53 "2010-05-25T17:10:35Z")
Great. I’ve just spent all afternoon doing budget and workload projections through to end 2011… and I might as well have just stopped at May. Mind you, I guess I’ll need to update the Business Continuity Plan to include “end of the world” as well as fire, flood, terrorist attack etc, just to be on the safe side. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/54 "2010-05-25T17:16:44Z")
I thought this had something to do with the Mayan calendar? Or is that a different end-of-the-world? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/55 "2010-05-25T17:18:33Z")
> [@jasourdough](#): > > If you would like to debate the subject, please present evidence from the bible rather than making unfalsifiable claims presented by science. Wow. As a Born-Again Christian and former Preacher Of The Word of God, I’d like to say this is the most willfully ignorant thing I have ever read, and I cannot believe I read it here. As a Christian, jasourdough, your goal should be Truth. So remember this: Science is your friend. (And so is grammar. The Lord God didst divide the To and the Too, ne’er the twain to be intermingled.) But please don’t be disgusted by the apostates here and turn away, jas, because the entertainment value of your “logic” is, well, inspired. Keep posting. I’m sure you’ll make some converts, or at least enlighten all of us a bit. [/sarc] Seriously, you are bringing up some arguments that I have never heard before. And that is something. I really would like to hear more. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/56 "2010-05-25T17:44:01Z")
> [@Who\_me\_1](#): > > It’s November **11** , 3084… get it right. Midnight in Jerusalem, which puts it one calendar day earlier in North America. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/57 "2010-05-25T17:45:49Z")
> [@flight](#): > > I love you guys. But, this one, also from **Gyrate** , may be even better: > [@Gyrate](#): > > Are Calvinist ministers pre-ordained? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/58 "2010-05-25T17:48:14Z")
For “General Questions” the answer is easy, gullibility and stupidity. Maybe go to GD for the rest of it? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/59 "2010-05-25T17:54:44Z")
> [@](#): > > **Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle** when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012. It’s nice to see he has kept his sense of humour. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/60 "2010-05-25T18:08:30Z")
A singer in a smokey room A smell of wine and cheap perfume For a smile they can share the night It goes on and on and on and on 1 + 6 + 2 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 20 1 + 5 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 27 3 + 1 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 5 + 3 + 5 = 29 2 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 23 27 - 20 = 7 29 - 23 = 6 Journey Don’t stop belieivng 7 4 + 4 + 9 = 17 17 - 7= 10 7/6/10 The world ends in like 5 weeks! Grab your guns and follow me! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621.md?page=4)