TheInvisiblePony Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Personally, I think it is a rather large misinterpretation of the original calender. My favorite taking is that it's supposed to be the end of an era, and that it precedes a form of enlightenment. All this talk of the Earth shattering is just a hyped up over-reaction, but it is TECHNICALLY right. If things go according to plan. Where said plan was created by an ancient civilization. That probably didn't even think many people would care when they stopped the calender. Also:Shunned by the medical community too. Died crazy.This seems to be reoccurring theme in science, does it not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomUser Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Those old civs are so much more intelligent then most of the population now-a-days. That factor seems to change a lot all around through history. We're just at a fairly lower point today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheInvisiblePony Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 That factor seems to change a lot all around through history. We're just at a fairly lower point today.I disagree. Every day and age has had both brilliance and ignorance. The former is quite often remembered over the latter because who wants to remember the stupid things people did? It may not seem like it all the time, but humanity is always evolving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weesh Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Shunned by the medical community too. Died crazy.Could I get a name? Sounds like a good story. Sad, but likely interesting.Penumbra, what gives you the impression that people from ~2000 years ago were more intelligent?There are lots of ways to compare intelligence.For instance knowledge or understanding or abstract thought or reasoning. Our schooling and resources allow us to stay ahead of the average Mayan.Self-awareness is trickier, but that fact that we are aware of it as a concept, makes it easier for us to study ourselves.What about communication? We can be trained on that, and we have much more practice. Thought we also have more distractions...Memory? Well score one for the old guys? Maybe not. We hear about societies with amazing memories, but we are exposed to so much more that we probably know more than they do. Planning? I don't know on this one. Then there are the evidence found by comparing life then and now.Homicide rates (per unit number of people) have been dropping for hundreds of years. We are living twice as long or more than our ancestors. Quality of life is dramatically higher.So what made me angry/irritated?The idea that a culture that engaged in human sacrifice is something to aspire to.The idea that the abilities and triumphs of today's average people are insignificant.Comparing people you have never met to those you have.Comparing the most intelligent people of 2000 years ago not to our greatest minds, but to the average people.Romantically and flippantly perpetrating the idea that we are a degrading society, when the world is improving. So maybe some of this is unfair, and if you feel that way, I am sorry that I misinterpreted you. Let me know where I am off-base. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flutterscotch Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Yeah, you know, maybe they were predicting a big change in their society. And maybe it's something that would have come to fruition except...well, Conquistadors and the whole colonization = Christianity or death. I bet still-living Maya are laughing their flanks at Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weesh Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Yeah, you know, maybe they were predicting a big change in their society. And maybe it's something that would have come to fruition except...well, Conquistadors and the whole colonization = Christianity or death. I bet still-living Maya are laughing their flanks at Americans.There are still living Maya because they are surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on the other. The geography has slowed outside influences from diluting their culture and language. Most of the laughing I saw while there was directed at my terrible Spanish, but they also had infinite patience as they helped me speak it better. I didn't get the impression that they think about the USA very often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flutterscotch Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 They were being polite in the same way folks from tourist towns anywhere are polite and patient with outsiders. You know there are those that moved to the big cities there that totally scorn Americans.Maya Hipsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomUser Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 I disagree. Every day and age has had both brilliance and ignorance. The former is quite often remembered over the latter because who wants to remember the stupid things people did? It may not seem like it all the time, but humanity is always evolving.Scientifically we are gradually moving forward, but that's not what I was getting at. I was looking more at the number of people thinking.Humanity's evolution isn't always positive. Especially with the next generation of kids coming in after being raised in a world where aggressive businessmen reign and the arts and philosophers aren't nurtured (or at least, that's how it is in America). I do not feel like we are gradually moving forward, rather we bounce around a lot. Especially in terms of the thinking population. Critical thinking is not a strong point in the teenage community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weesh Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 They were being polite in the same way folks from tourist towns anywhere are polite and patient with outsiders. You know there are those that moved to the big cities there that totally scorn Americans.Maya Hipsters.HA! Now that you say that, I remember a guy who overheard me making an ill-informed comment about the Maya and started ranting about how little I understood. We kept walking and he followed us! A few hours later, we had escaped, and we randomly ran into each other again! He recognized me and and started up again. It would have been annoying if it were not so silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerian Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 Looking forward to starting my ThD (Thaumaturgical Doctrate) in Associative Mana Exchange of Ally Spirits when magic comes back.For the unaware, the Shadowrun view of 2012 ushering in the magically active sixth world is the only interpretation of the Mayan calender that I take seriously. That is to say I take all the other conspiracy theorists and doomsayers less seriously than an interesting RPG idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashton Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 Personally, I think it is a rather large misinterpretation of the original calender. My favorite taking is that it's supposed to be the end of an era, and that it precedes a form of enlightenment. *sings* It's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius! Age of Aquarius! Age of Aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuus!Seriously, though There was a 1-panel comic like the one posted above that I think is closer to the real answer:"Why calendar stop in 2012?" / "ran out of stone" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weesh Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 *sings* It's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius! Age of Aquarius! Age of Aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuus!Oh goodness I hope not. Its worse than I feared!Seriously, though There was a 1-panel comic like the one posted above that I think is closer to the real answer:"Why calendar stop in 2012?" / "ran out of stone"The calendar in question decided to "end" at the completion of a baktun, rather than just continuing with the next one. Other Maya calendars went further or didn't make it that far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starswirlthebearded Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 Oh goodness I hope not. Its worse than I feared!The calendar in question decided to "end" at the completion of a baktun, rather than just continuing with the next one. Other Maya calendars went further or didn't make it that far.Just watch the video I posted, explains it pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrick Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 The plant I work in still has "Y2K Compliant" stickers stuck all over the electrical panels. Hundreds of them....We've already had several apocalypses over the years. The Black Death was certainly apocalyptic. Several things have been the "end of the world" at least in an "as we know it" sense. Maybe they were off and the date was earlier. Maybe this is the apocalypse now. Would we know if we were living through the end of an era?Also, on the people are dumber/smarter now debate- I say "yes" .... to both.I think we are living through an uncontrolled version of the Russian fox experiment. The crazy/dumb portion of our population gravitates to its own element so those traits are reenforced concentrating the lunacy. Likewise the most intelligent sector gravitates towards itself and as such raises the bar there. There is a nice buffer zone of "average" folks that mix a bit with the other two pools and produce both rocket scientists and tinfoil hat enthusiasts from time to time. But I don't imagine there are too many neurosurgeons married to folks that check their cornflakes for secret messages from the CIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankT Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 So we all know the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st of this year. And that is supposed to be the day the world ends and such.Well, that's where you're wrong, because.....!http://in.news.yahoo.com/earliest-mayan-calendar-shows-no-hint-world-ending-064636554.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeOo Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Why before Christmas. WHY BACON JESUS WHY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaria Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 On 12/21/2012, I will be laughing as I actually end the world. It will be pastry-related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSwirl Posted September 19, 2012 Report Share Posted September 19, 2012 I am gonna laugh and have a good time, get drunk, watch MLP and play all my old games one last time. Just in case. If it doesn't end, I've still got an excuse to be hungover and/or completely hammered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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