Mayan Calendar 2012 Apocalypse Prediction: 'You still have to do your holiday shopping' - Professor
Scientists are frequently being seen on the media these days, speaking about the apocalypse and Dec. 21 end of the world scenarios associated to the Mayan calendar. Find out what have they been saying.
Astronomy professor Andrew Fraknoi spoke to MSNBC in a news segment Saturday, Dec. 8.
"You don't think it's the end of the world" Professor Fraknoi said, adding, "You just think it's time to... buy a new calendar."
Speaking from San Francisco, California, Professor Fraknoi noted the Mayan calendar is more of a "fiction science" than "science fiction."
"It sure is a lot of fun to be worrying about the end of the world," he joked, adding, "Hollywood knows that, too." He also emphasized, "(T)he living descendants of the Mayans confirm that [the end of the Mayan calendar long cycle] means the next cycle will begin."
Christian Wells, an associate professor of anthropology, also rejects the apocalyptic claims surrounding Dec. 21.
"You still have to do your holiday shopping - the world is not going to end," Professor Wells said in a recent USF lecture.
Wells explained apocalyptic predictions were linked to the Mayan calendar based on translated statements taken out of context. The phrases "the 13th calendrical cycle will end on Dec. 21, 2012" and "This is the destruction of the world. This then is its end" were simply misinterpreted, according to him.
"What's happened ... is New Age religions have pulled these sentences out of the literary context, strung them together, and created a whole new meaning about apocalypse," Wells said.
NASA has also spoken about the matter.
"Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," the scientists said.
One of the threats frequently mentioned in association to the Mayan calendar 2012 doomsday involves the so-called Nibiru theory. According to Nibiru assumptions, a planet supposedly four times more massive than Earth will allegedly hit the planet on Dec. 21.
Professor Fraknoi argued that such a huge astronomical event would have an observable proof in the sky as early as now.
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