2012....

[Aviation Pro]

....let's see, an ancient civilization with stone technology predicts the (take your choice):

1. Age of enlightenment.
2. The apocalypse.
3. The end of humanity.
4. The end of the world.

Do I have that about right?

And how many times in the last 10,000 years has some hysterical group predicted this?

Human beings can be so insane.

[Bicoastal]

1. ????

Did I miss the memo or something?

[Aviation Pro]

2. No, there's a movie coming out called 2012....

...and the trailer asks the viewer to Google 2012 and out pops the usual end time bullshit.

[Cleita]

5. Is Mel Gibson producing it? n/t

[Aviation Pro]

6. No it's a Roland Emmerich film....

...same guy who did Independence Day and the Godzilla flick.

[merwin]

3. 5. Barack Obama's second election victory!

[Aviation Pro]

4. The Mayans missed that memo, but I'll take it....

....

[Richard D]

7. Hmmmmmm

Let's see . . . Peak Oil, Global Warming, water shortages, ocean acidification, deforestation, sea level rising, etc. . . . all sorts of stuff that's never happened before. Maybe the Mayans were tuned into something. We're certainly approaching a make it or break it point, and making it will require changes probably never before seen by humanity - like cooperation for one. That could certainly be the beginning of an age of enlightenment, no?

[Aviation Pro]

8. Ya mean like the Rennaisance after the emergence....

...from the Dark Ages? I'd say that the world pretty much will continue to turn, things will get better and humanity will continue to stumble along.

[Richard D]

9. Something like that . . .

. . . and a larger scale. We've never had instantaneous global communication before. This is an amazing time.

I do need to add that I don't think 2012 has any real significance - but the idea, found within a number of ancient cultures that things would start shifting around now, combined with all that is happening, give me an interesting and weird feeling about the future. I think it's hope. Pretty unfamiliar and not quite comfortable yet.