We’re still here. After months in which we’ve been bombarded with more or less convoluted interpretations of the Mayan calendar and the alleged prophecy about the end of the world, nothing happened.

In 1999, many gullible people thought there would be the end of the world and someone else took advantage of the phenomenon but this year the phenomenon was much bigger. The Internet, which in most cases is a positive force, this time acted as an amplifier of a considerable amount of nonsense. As if that weren’t enough even newspapers and newscasts that are supposed to be serious contributed to spreading theories with no scientific basis.

NASA tried to make things clear explaining why from the scientific point of view there was no danger. Nevertheless, the agency phones were flooded with calls from people who wanted to know if the end of the world was imminent. It’s easier to learn pseudo-mystical nonsense rather than true science, which require commitment and consistency so many people have listened to people proposing absurd theories rather than scientists who have studied actual facts for decades.

From the scientific point of view, it was clear that the Mayan calendar had simply reached the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one, just like in our calendar a millennium ended and a new one started. From that point a prophecy of a great change with the new cycle was created but lately led to a sort of competition of nonsense because someone started interpreting the change as the end of the world.

When there are so many gullible people it’s inevitable that there are some others who take advantage of them, in this case for example producing books and TV shows about that topic. If anything, the real Maya people have seen an increase in tourism in Mexico in areas that aren’t rich.

At last, December 21, 2012 has passed and all this nonsense will soon be forgotten. I wonder how many gullible people from now will swear that they never believed all the nonsense we heard during this year! The problem is that this phenomenon has generated a lot of revenue for anyone so we can expect that someone will make up a new date for the end of the world to make more money.

Will someone find another ancient calendar on which a great cycle is about to end? With a little patience we can wait for the new binary millennium because 2047 in binary is 1111111111 and 2048 in binary is 1000000000000. Let’s enjoy a little peace and for a while let’s think about our real problems before a new wave of nonsense starts!

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