What will happen on December 21 2012?

What will happen on December 21 2012?

Quick answer: Nobody knows, but probably not much.

There have been a lot going on regarding the 2012 prophecy recently, including the movie “I am legend”, but  surprisingly, not much information about what is really supposed to happen on that date is available. This is Probably because nobody knows and also because probably not much will happen. Most information available about 2012 is making reference to mass destruction of the world as we know it, earth’s pole shift/magnetic field reversal, Nostradamus predictions, end of Mayas calendar, etc.

The base of all the predictions is the end of the Maya calendar in 2012, which is supposed to mean the end of the world or a period of radical changes. In fact, the end of the Maya calendar is known as the end of the Great Cycle. People find it easy to believe in that theory because Maya civilization is known for advanced writing, mathematics and astronomy. It can seem like they really know what they’re talking about, but the truth is that the end of the Great Cycle is not the end of the world, it’s in fact a great celebration for the Mayas:

For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle” says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Fla. To render Dec. 21, 2012, as a doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”
From USA Today

On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years(Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. The Galaxy has special significance to humanity as it is the home galaxy of the planet Earth). This special alignment means that the usual energy that typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 2012 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time. Scientists are actually in great doubt about the fact that the Mayas even knew what they were talking about.

Astronomers generally agree that “it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that” says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What’s more, she says, “we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point.”
From USA Today

Putting apart scientific data, here are the commons beliefs of the December 21 2012:

• Galactic Alignment. This Galactic Alignment occurs only once every 26,000, this is considered as the end-date in the Mayans Long Count calender. It is the alignment of the December solstice sun with the Galactic equator.
• A comet hitting Earth (Nostradamus)
  • Read my article on Nostradamus to discover the real truth about Nostradamus: Nostradamus is not a valid argument!
• Earth’s Pole Shift/Magnetic field reversal
  • Read my article on pole shift to discover the real truth about 2012 and pole shift: What is that pole shift thing and What is that pole shift thing part II
• Increase of calamities, natural disasters, mass destruction, etc.

I don’t want to repeat myself, but all of this is very vague as nobody really knows what will happen and the world is not at its first doomsday prophecy. There have been a lot of “Unfulfilled” prophecies in the past and you can have a look at this Wikipedia document for a list of unfulfilled religious prophecies.

What I find quite interesting about the 2012 theory is that there’s not much publications from well respected scientific organizations. NASA has published a couple of articles about the pole shift, but nothing else that could reveal a certain fear of the end of the world. Now you could argue that “big organizations” certainly wouldn’t reveal anything that has to do with the end of the world, but that’s another debate.