Addressing Superstition: A Scientific Approach

[Andre]

So I saw this thread inquiring about the doom fate of mankind in the year 2012, to which I prepared this answer:

No, 2012 is just the end of the Mayan calendar combined with the ineradicable human urge to create imaginary dangers like hell, chemtrails and future catastrophes to promote a herd reaction. Having a common threat promotes togetherness, but the human successrate of predicting future end of the word scenarios has been zilch so far.

But when I tried to post, the thread was gone. Perhaps that the poster was a troll, I don't know but I wonder if this is the best way to deal with superstition. I guess that a lot of decent but less educated people are struggling with questions like these and they may have needed a discussion between reason and superstition.

 

[PhoenyxRising]

The mayan calendar ends yes, I don't think it will mean the end of the world at all. Maybe the troll didnt think his way thru properly and only wanted to cause mayhem of his own. :D

 

[Andre]

Well, the 2012 doomsday notion is widespread and growing rapidly. Google 2012 doomsday and you'll have close to some 600,000 hits. Kids pick that up for true. And it's not going away by actively ignoring and deleting threads. Instead I have seen several signs of reliefs when arguing that it is all baloney.

 

[cristo]

PF is not a place for such speculation. This thread will just provide a platform for discussion of the original thread, which was deleted for a reason!

Perhaps I should add, this topic is on the "closed topics" list in the rules of the scepticism and debunking forum: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=5929

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Note also that in the closed topics list, a number of threads are linked that explain or debunk this claim and other closed topics.

The topics listed are approved by the entire staff and closed in all forums.