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Asked by kehhkgch to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: General. This question was also asked by lollypop, jackster1997, somethingrandom97, elmo97.
Question: Do you think the world will end in 2012?
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Andrew Maynard answered on 12 Jun 2010:
Hi kehhkgch,
Er, um… no! It better not as there are still plenty of things I want to do!
Seriously though, there is no evidence at all to my knowledge that would suggest we are heading for end of the world in 2012. And I suspect we would be rather arrogant as a species if we felt we had special knowledge about such things.
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Marianne Baker answered on 13 Jun 2010:
No, not at all!
I remember the ‘Nostradamus said the world will end in 2000!’ stuff that went around when I was at school. That didn’t happen either.
Most of these things have been distorted down the years from the original source.
As far as I’m aware this idea of 2012 doomsday comes from the Mayan calendar; they ran out of space and the last year ended up being 2012. But this is an ancient civilisation; their (understandable) inability to create an accurate calendar going 100s of years into the future isn’t a good reason to assume the planet is going to self-destruct!!
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anon answered on 17 Jun 2010:
Hi kehhkgch, lollypop and jackster1997 – highly unlikely under the current climate unless we have a catastrophic event such as super volcano explosion or a rather large metorite…but that’s just my personal opinion!!:)
Comments
kehhkgch commented on :
I have heard many predictions about when the world will end. I just wanted to know what you believed. I personally don’t think the world will end in 2012. But global warming proves to us that if we don’t sort our way of living the world be end sooner than we hope. What do you think about Global Warming and t’s affects?
Andrew commented on :
People have been fascinated forever by trying to predict the future and anticipating catastrophic ends to civilization and the world – usually unsuccessfully, because the predictions aren’t based on evidence or sound reasoning. But at the same time, it’s highly unlikely that the Earth will remain the same for the next 10, 100, 1000 or million years – change is a fact of life.
The interesting questions then become how will it change, will humans (in particular) be able to adapt and survive the changes, and will we even be responsible for the changes?
That obviously brings up global warming. I can’t predict where this will go, but I suspect the worst case scenario is that we end up making the world a very difficult place for humans as a species to live. Not a great future to look forward to!
Marianne commented on :
I think it’s very important to be aware of our impact on the planet. To say we have none is to deny the obvious and, indeed, the facts.
Even if it were the case that our actions aren’t going to damage things irreparably, I think it’s only responsible to be considerate not just to other humans but to all the other species we share this planet with. If we are the only planet capable of supporting life (which we don’t know for sure, but hypothetically!) then it would be tragic if our activity resulted in irreversible changes that meant life could no longer flourish here. It would be very, very sad indeed.
So if all people do is recycle and turn the lights off when they don’t need them, that’s a start!
andrewleitch commented on :
Aha! This was a tabloid-style global warming question. I think most people who say the world is going to end on a specific date have either a mental health problem, monstrous self-regard bordering on the delusional or a vested interest in stirring up panic and fear. In reality I agree with the other 2 posts on this question. It’s not hard to see how aggressive consumerism without regard for the future of our environment may lead us down a difficult road (potentially) to armageddon.
However, nothing is ever as straightforward as it is presented. It is always important to examine the other side of the argument and satisfy yourself you’ve done everything you can to ensure you have a balanced picture. The ‘climategate’ scandal that occurred after the email and data leak from East Anglia Uni was either a sad reflection on scientific practice or a calculated anti-global warming media manipulation. It was definitely a reminder not to take opinions (and to some extent data) at face value.
Scientists aren’t immune to the forces that drive the rest of humanity. Scientists usually have their own political views and social agenda. They often (invariably) have to compete with other scientists for funding. Currently, would you be more likely to fund a project whose hypothesis was that global warming was a bad thing that we can make better or one that suggested it was unimportant? The important thing here would be to assess the methodology (experiments planned), experience and ability of the team involved and the background evidence and planning presented. The temptation would be to go for the politically ‘sexy’ strategy. Also scientists get very protective of pet theories and have been known to exclude and misuse data that didn’t support them. Same old biblical sins: pride, avarice, envy, despair, wrath , lust, gluttony still come into play even in the ‘sterile’ laboratory evironment.
shrimpyking commented on :
We don’t really understand the long words that you are using. Sorry. I’m in year 8.
andrewleitch commented on :
Fair enough shrimpy king. I guess I agreed with the other 2. I think we are having a negative effect on the world and not really thinking about the future. I think this is because of greed. However, i think it’s important to think carefully about what people are telling you in the papers and on television because people often have their own agendas. How many ‘cures for cancer’ have there been and yet lots of people still die of cancer. A big respected university was shown to be not entirely honest about the data they had collected on climate change recently. It was argued that they only used results that supported their ideas and didn’t let others see for themselves. It’s always important to know why somebody is saying what they are saying. If i say the world will end in 2012. Is it because i have seen an enormous meteroite travelling towards earth through a telescope and done a lot of fancy maths and then checked with other colleagues who got the same result or is it because I woke up this morning with a bad feeling? Do you see my point?
fluffybunny commented on :
I do not think that is very nice Andrew L. I think the world might end on a certain date and I do not have mental health problems.
Marianne commented on :
Do you really think it will though?! Or are you just wondering; like ‘well, it might. I don’t know for sure!’ – because believing something with all your heart, to the point where you cannot be convinced otherwise, and just considering the possibility… they’re really different things.
I think all Andrew meant is that sometimes people get hold of conspiracy theories and really take them to heart; they think it’s absolute truth, even though there’s no evidence for it. That’s a bit mad 🙂
andrewleitch commented on :
Thanks Marianne.
andrewleitch commented on :
Hi Fluffybunny. Apologies if I offended you. I guess I was just trying to be reassuring and maybe also trying a bit to hard to make my answer interesting. I think you usually have to be very convinced that the world is going to end on a certain date to actually say it. As there has never been any evidence that this might happen it’s hard to see how you could be convinced of this. I think if you meet someone who’s really convinced that the world is going to end on a certain date you should seriously consider if they have a mental health problem. It’s not a bad thing to have a mental health problem, lots of people do and it’s usually important that they get/ ar getting some help. Mental health problems are very difficult to have and difficult to treat. You shouldn’t treat it as a negative thing. It’s like being rude about somebody because they have asthma. It might be fun to have theories about the world ending but that is not the same as being convinced.
babybel commented on :
To be honest.. you should not apologise,
If one asks a question they shouldn’t expect people to not say what they are really thinking.
Even though you do say it is highly unlikely that the world will “end” on that specific date. Could it be possible?
Just a general wondering .x
lollypop commented on :
What do you mean by the world will ‘end’? Will it just dissapear or will everything die??
kehhkgch commented on :
well, it could be either. It’s still bad either way!
kehhkgch commented on :
Thanks for replying so quickly! I too, agree with what you’re saying. It’s just a shame that people don’t do anything about it! I think the little things make the big things happen, so by switching things off stand by, it’ll help a lot! Yet again thanks for replying quickly!
paulagilfillan commented on :
Hi everyone…want an opinion from somebody that studied climate change in their degree????
Please see my reply below to cheesyscience as I think this will help. We really need to concentrate on what we can to minimise our future impacts. As a teenager, I thought the world was going to end from nuclear war and now it seems that this has been replaced by global warming. I hope the text below reassures you somewhat.
Hi cheesyscience…..good question, as I am an environmental scientist this is a question we ask ourselves in my profession all the time.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), yes global warming or climate change is happening. However, the IPCC have been criticised in the past for only looking at climate change data over a relatively short period of time when compared to the life of this planet.
Some climate change scientists argue that this planet has been going through some form of cyclical global warming for it’s entire life and therefore what the IPCC is looking at is only a snapshot in the life of this planet. If you look at much older data, they say that what we are currently experiencing is normal but our human impact has speeded up the process significantly than would have been predicted.
Right……so in summary, there are 2 opinions but the IPCC is currently holding greater influence in the political circles. However, both could be right and personally, there is probably an element of truth in both theories I have described to you. My advice is, to read around the subject as widely as you can and then form your own opinion!
How can we stop it? Everyone can contribute to stopping global warming form the multinational companies to you and your school. Essentially, reducing our carbon dioxide emission is the main driver so to you and school that would mean walking more or using public transport, switch those lights off, get a more fuel efficient boiler and re-use and recycle more (although recycling can use quite a lot of energy for some waste streams). Hope that answers your question.:)