Ghana Scientist Predicts 2012 Doomsday
September 16, 2008
Two news reports from Ghana this week, both lacking credibility, but a further example of how easily the public can be swayed.
Firstly a “scientist”, Mr. Joris Wattenberg, told Ghanaian radio station Joy FM that 20th December 2012 would be “characterized by unprecedented earthquakes across the globe”. The earth would cease spinning, mountains would be flattened, and most humans would die. Although a magnetic pole reversal does happen approximately every 700,000 years, as the article states, there is no evidence that the Earth would reverse its spin, nor is there any reason to believe it would happen in 2012.
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Professor weighs in on predicted apocalypse
September 14, 2008
Brown Daily Herald (a university newspaper) reports this week on 2012 predictions.
Patrick Geryl (pictured) says that the South African Kingdom of Lesotho is the safest place to be, when the world comes to a “volcano-erupting, tidal-wave-crashing, nuclear-reactor-melting end.”
One of the world’s leading experts on the Mayan civilization, Professor Stephen Houston, says that just one of many Mayan cycles will end in 2012, and “that the end is neither significant nor relevant.”
Also mentioned in the article is how some people are aiming to make money from 2012 survivalists. Dennis McClung of 2012supplies.com is profiled.
2012 Dismissed in the Guardian
September 6, 2008
An opinion piece by Adam Rutherford of the Guardian newspaper starts off with a common way of dismissing end of the world scenarios:
There’s one unifying, undeniably robust common factor in all end of days prophecies: none have come to pass.
Prophecies tend to be loosely worded, provided by individuals, and relatively modern. He’s neglecting to acknowledge that it is more that just a prophecy. The Mayan Calendar has existed for thousands of years. It is not the ideas of a sole madman, but rather the belief of an entire culture. There was no fame or monetary gain to be had. And it has a very specific end date. There has never been a prediction like this – no comparisons should be made.
The fluctuations of the Earth’s magnetic field are heteroskedastic, meaning that there are so many seemingly random variables that they are virtually impossible to predict. However, reversals are known to have happened dozens of times through history, and never once with significant global catastrophes. Worst possible outcome? Maybe some migrating birds will get lost.
