What will kick-start the apocalypse? Your results are in!

2000 – the Y2K bug was supposed to bring an end to our world

1997/1999 – Nostradamus predicted Armageddon

2012 – now it’s the Mayans turn to predict our doomsday…

According to an ancient Mayan inscription carved on a stone staircase in the ruins of Guatemala’s La Corona, 21 December 2012 is the next ‘end date’ to cause us concern. What ‘end date’ means, of course, is up for interpretation. Will there be political or socioeconomic change? Will there be a natural disaster or technological failure?

With only a month to go before this ‘end date’, I thought I’d ask you – what is about to happen? I offered up some suggestions on Facebook, but also invited readers to suggest their own ideas. Here are the results*:

Poll results as at 22 November 2012

Big thanks go to the Facebookers and Tweeps who answered this poll: Ian Andrew Irvine, Claire Corbett, Kirsten Tranter, Catriona Sparks, Gillian Polack, Sean Wright, Nansi Kunze, Kylie Scott, Elizabeth Ottosson, Zoya Nojin, Chris Andrews, Brad C Anderson, Maria Kelly, Jodi Cleghorn, Füzzy Mijmark, Crisetta MacLeod, Beatrice Yell, Brett Eden, Rick Keuning, Mary Dreyer Hopper, Janet Lingel Aldrich, Debra Smith, John Chapman, Adrian Millard, Ray Paterson, Jaap Timmer, Alex Adsett and Adam Byatt

*Please note that, for ease of interpretation, I grouped together all those reader suggestions that fell under the idea of mankind causing its own downfall. These included:

• War
• Western arrogance in their own beliefs
• Mislead theists
• A single (particularly idiot) politician
• Growing popularity of McDonald’s and other junk food
• Too many people focused on their own needs/wants in so many areas – eg. water
• Nanotechnology grey death
• Androids with chips on their shoulders
• Ian Irvine (!)

As for me, I didn’t cast a vote this time. I think we’re going to be here when the sun dies! These ‘end dates’ crop up from time to time, but nothing apocalyptic ever happens. Humans will go on forever. Life will find a way, as Dr Ian Malcolm says in the original Jurassic Park:

If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but… well, there it is…. I’m simply saying that life… finds a way.

And if there’s one thing we humans cherish, it’s life. In every post-apocalyptic story I’d read or seen, there are humans struggling through. We’re an indomitable species.

I was watching the Doctor Who episode “Utopia” the other night (written by Russell T Davies), in which Doctor Who (David Tennant) stands at the edge of a canyon village on a distant planet. The village was once occupied by some form of living species, but is now abandoned.

“What killed it?” his assistant (Freema Agyeman) asks.

“Time,” he replies.

Me in Guatemala
(eight years ago!)

But time is nothing to be afraid of… Just look at any ruined city here on Earth (the Guatemalan temple where this latest ‘end date’ was found for instance) and imagine what its occupants would have said if told their city would one day be abandoned, that life as they knew it would be gone. Most likely, they’d have panicked! Just as people panic today when learning of a new ‘end date’.

All it is, is fear of change.

Despite Earth’s ruined cities and temples, isn’t humanity today thriving (apart from a little economic crisis!)? So what’s there to be afraid of, really?

Writers.

Those naughty writers! The idea of an apocalypse was of course created by storytellers, who wanted us to be afraid – for good reason. When we fear having things taken away from us – things we value or enjoy – it makes us cherish them all the more. So storytellers, since the dawn of time, have told stories that make us grateful for what we’ve got. Contentment is a highly prized state of mind.

So when 21 December comes around this year, don’t fear what the storytellers say. Simply read between the lines, and be thankful for the joys you can embrace, right here, right now.

As for the future – take note of the top two theories on my poll above and be good to the planet, and each other. Hugs help 🙂

PS. if the zombies come for us though, I’m told that a good shotgun will probably help too.