2012 - Science Or Superstition?/Segment/1

What is the meaning of 2012?

Narr: December 21, 2012 - the end date of the sophisticated long count calendar created by the ancient Maya in Central America.

Countless books and websites, magazine articles and newspaper headlines debate its meaning. With enthusiasts in two camps: those forecasting apocalypse - the end of time, and those who see a coming renewal - a rebirth of consciousness.

Adding fuel to the debate, some scientists see the increasing number of natural disasters in recent years as evidence of a catastrophic climax of events in 2012.

How much of what we are hearing is science, and how much is superstition? In this film, leading researchers, writers, and scientists in the field, tell us exactly what this date means to them, why it's important, and what we should expect.

JMJ: The December 21st, 2012 date is gaining ground in the popular media, and there is a lot of apocalyptic hype around it. But it's sort of an indication that one is not looking deep enough into the phenomenon. [Talk]

AM: One of the great challenges that is posed to us is this question of 2012 - what does this mean to us? [Talk]

GH: There are texts, traditions coming down to us from the Maya, which suggest that this is not just the end of a calendrical epoch, but of the end of an entire age of the earth and of everything that has been built and accumulated in the last 5,000 years - that this too, will come to an end. [Talk]

LEJ: If that were the only thing I knew, that it was a consistent, ancient prophecy, I would note it - I might shudder in the dark of night - but I would leave it, if it were not for the coincidence of contemporary solar physics, with the sun spots climaxing in 2012. [Talk]

AFA: We're in the midst of a 2012 mania, being as spiritually starved as we are, and subject to such a terrible world around us, we look for explanations. And that's what motivated me to talk a little bit more about the scientific side of some of these explanations. [Talk]

JM: When you look at the totality of the evidence coming from different ages, different time periods, and different sources, including scientific [sources], that seem to portend that something pretty important may be happening around the year 2012, then I think it's time that we pay serious attention to this. [Talk]