io9
Mark your calendars - It may not feel like it, but last Friday was potentially the start of the end of the world. Friday, you see, saw the identification that a new 11-year solar cycle has started (as Charlie pointed out) and according to many, when solar cycles peak, so does societal and cultural revolution (look here for evidence of that theory, skeptics). According to New Scientist, we're still a few years away from the peak of this cycle — some researchers predict 2011 and others 2012. Wait... 2012? That date sounds familiar. Something to do with Timewave Zero.
For those who know their Terence McKenna, of course, 2012 just so happens to have particular significance:
The theory of Timewave Zero was revealed to Terence by an alien intelligence following a bizarre, quasi-psychedelic experiment conducted in the Amazon jungle in Colombia in 1971. Inspired by this influence Terence was instructed in certain transformation of numbers derived from the King Wen sequence of I Ching hexagrams. This led eventually to a rigorous mathematical description of what Terence calls the timewave, which correlates time and history with the ebb and flow of novelty, which is intrinsic to the structure of time and hence of the temporal universe. A peculiarity of this correlation is that at a certain point a singularity is reached which is the end of history-or at least is a transition to a suprahistorical order in which our ordinary conceptions of our world will be radically transformed. The best current estimate for the date of this point is December 21, 2012 CE [common era], the winter solstice of that year and also the end of the current era in the Mayan calendar.
My message to those who are making long term plans right now? Don't bother.
Maverick sunspot heralds new solar cycle [New Scientist.com]
Terence McKenna's Timewave Zero [Alternative Culture]
Comments
I've always assumed it's the end of the world as we know it. Not necessarily THE END.
@the memorexe: Interesting. In that case, I feel fine.
Terence had a very good batch of peyote that year, methinks.
@the memorexe: Well that's the more comforting way to feel about it. But chances are as we know it is still pretty bad for most of us.
@92BuickLeSabre: Funny.
Sounds kinda like "Altered States". Why should I feel funny for questioning the veracity of rigorous math (Taught to him by an alien intelligence, don't forget that.) done by someone who experiments with mind altering drugs?
I'm scared. Hold me.
Wasn't the specific date like December 21, 2012? Or am I confusing Alien Math Guy with the X-Files? And does that even matter?
Either way I'm going to stop making student loan payments.
There's also one interpretation of the Mayan calendar that puts the end of the "world" or current cycle in 2012 too. I think it's the next year of the dragon, which are supposedly big years.
At the very least, we have fuel for at least 5 low budget crappy scifi channel movies here.
Supergator 2012 of the SS II... squito.
Well, it is time I had some time alone...
The idea with Timewave Zero was that we as a species were going to transform into something wonderful.
Unfortunately, I'll wake up December 22 just as pissy about upcoming Christmas as I always am, transformed into nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I want the coolness, but it ain't gonna happen.
Wait a minute! Is that the hole where the Q-Ball entered?
Timewave Zero is an extremely interesting thought experiment, but that doesn't make its math rigorous, or its conclusions profound. It is great skiffy, though. Terence had some really interesting thoughts about the Singularity, like its effect on all of history backwards through time, exerting gravity upon our timestream, and somehow lensing our view of time's flow.
hmm. should I cash out my 401K now or wait until the stock market gets better?
I thought it just affected the DX.
73 DE N2NLQ!
Look, we have to survive until October 22 of 2015 at least. Back to the Future says so! Also I'll have a hovercar, and that will be awesome.
@foofer: The question you have to ask yourself is "WILL the stock market get better?" Of course, that's not to say cashing out now is the better option.
If you were to cash out now, though, convert some of your newly liquid capital into gold. Then slowly sell out until the price finally peaks, then cash out of that and go nuts.
(And don't forget to throw a little in the direction of your financial advisor, say 7 or 8 percent?)
Hmmmm....my birthday is December 21st. :S uh oh.....I'll be 22. Greattt.....
@jordanswogger:
I am not old for my hobby! Take that back you whippersnapper! :P
As Dr. Manhattan said, "nothing ever ends".
Just don't ask me if I'm surprised if NOTHING happens.
Is it wrong that now I suspect everything is a viral marketing tie in?
That said... ooooh the new scientist... so not science magazine. Sorry but the new scientist ranks below scientific american in my book...
THE HOW AND WHY OF THE MAYAN END DATE IN 2012 A.D.
The above article gives a real and understandable reason for the ending of the Mayan calendar. It was designed to end with a very significant (to the Mayans) astronomical occurrence.
This theory seems to make more sense to me than any of others I have heard.
You know, Umberto Eco actually made the brilliant and totally cogent point that any pieces of information can be related to each other in a giant conspiracy of information with enough effort in Foucault's Pendulum. Of course, as he points out, it's all a total sham.
@Pope John Peeps II: That was the most exciting book about people thinking about things that I've ever read.
@Supernintendo: That was the date from the X-Files- they pulled it from other references, such as the end of the Mayan calendar, and probably this guy. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who instantly thought of Mulder when I read "2012" and "end of the world" in the same story.
I think 2012 can be two things. one can be the moment that the earths climate completely transforms and in turn, changing us.
The other is the evolution of the human mind. There is a 'group consciousness' and maybe we'll come to a poiint where we can communicate without words. 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' has a great part that touches on the possibility of us living underground and that we won't need words.
"My message to those who are making long term plans right now? Don't bother."
Groovy! Might as well cash out your retirement plan and send me the check.
I can't understand smart people taking this quasi-Millenarianist crap seriously. Maybe it's really wishful thinking; no need to take potential ecological disasters seriously if it's all moot in five years anyway.
@halloweenjack: The thinking man's rapture. I think you're on to something. :)
Well, this has happened before, so don't expect much.
@braak: At least you read it. That's a plus. Magnificent book.
That would be the year we discover time travel and begin screwing around with our own history and future to the point at which we all just give up, throw a big party spanning a few thousand years. Winning the Powerball is great, but splitting it with four million people just plain stinks!
We're already planning our Screw You Hippies party on the December 22nd 2012. It's a Saturday so put it in your diaries folks.
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