This is not a 2012 prophesies discussion - Institute for Human Continuity.

[Ivan Seeking]

Discussion of 2012 prophesies has been closed, as per the general posting guidelines.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=2269439#post2269439

This is about a commercial that I just saw on tv for the "Institute for Human Continuity", which claims to be "preparing us for the world of 2012"! I hate to encourage the traffic for a site like this, but this is too much to believe.
http://www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/

At the moment I can't think of tv commercial that I've ever seen before for something like this. It almost smacks of an entirely new genre of... um...hmmm...well...I don't know quite what to call it. They are even running a lottery to see who gets to survive; not to mention having an election for the post-2012 leader of the world!

I'm not sure if this is some kind of expensive joke or what.

Edit: Oh crud! I bet it is a promo for a new movie or something...

 

[Sorry!]

I saw a commercial one time going on something of the same lines but it was for a movie... maybe this is the same thing?

http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/

Edit:
yeah its for the movie, i first saw these commercials on PS3. If you go to the site i linked to and click the experience there are other websites listed. IHC is one of them that is for promoting the movie. I am assuming this movie is going to do well... i know when i first saw the commercial i wanted to see it :)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Poor Ivan caught the marketing virus. ;-)

I vaguely remember hearing something about this movie. I didn't remember until I read your comment about it possibly being a movie promo though.

 

[Moonbear]

Hee hee. Everytime I hear of the 2012 nonsense (and now a movie to reinforce it) lately, I can't help but consider that there's a certain segment of the US population who enjoys ignoring facts and who would be highly susceptible to believing a conspiracy theory about armageddon that I would like to have believe it just long enough to be too busy preparing to make it to the polls on election day that year.

 

[humanino]

What animal will be most important after 2012?

• horse
• elephant
• carrier pigeon

If this is not a joke, this is very funny anyway.

 

[drizzle]

what about camels?

my camel won’t be happy to hear this

 

[D H]

I have a prediction regarding 2012: When the movie comes out this fall sites such as PF will be inundated with questions from moviegoers. We do have a little bit of time to prepare for this onslaught. One possibility: Create a (closed) sticky thread in general discussion that simply says "it's only a movie". When someone posts about 2012, point to the sticky thread and lock the questioner's thread.

 

[Moonbear]

I have a prediction regarding 2012: When the movie comes out this fall sites such as PF will be inundated with questions from moviegoers. We do have a little bit of time to prepare for this onslaught. One possibility: Create a (closed) sticky thread in general discussion that simply says "it's only a movie". When someone posts about 2012, point to the sticky thread and lock the questioner's thread.

That might be a good plan. Personally, I'd rather just suggest they ask again in 2013 if they still think it's a good question. But, yeah, I'm also anticipating that this will be another movie that gets a reaction like the DaVinci Code did of people who somehow interpret it as documentary rather than fiction.

Though, from the previews, I'm not even interested in seeing the movie. It looks like it's not going to be anything but another one of those blow up all the cities with CGI type movies with a thin dialogue mostly consisting of "Oh ****! Look out! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

 

[mgb_phys]

Discussion of 2012 prophesies has been closed, as per the general posting guidelines.

I prophesy that:

• The new transport system will be an embarrassing failure
• It will rain
• The UK will win a few medals in obscure sports that nobody else plays - the papers will be full of this while ignoring the track and field.
• Whichever bunch are in power will claim all the glory while blaming the cost on the last bunch.
• It will cost 2x whatever they currently claim - which is 2x what they originally said. Income from the event will have the opposite trend.
• After 2012 the new facilities will be an expensive white elephant when it's discovered that the buildings were built quickly and cheaply and leak but there is no money to maintain or run them.
• Afterwards more money will be spent on security to keep kids from running around the carpark of the new sporting facilities than are spent on sport.

Is there another global scale disaster planned for 2012?

 

[waht]

I guess the movie will satisfy the otherwise disappointed conspiracy nuts.

 

[ViewsofMars]

"The most wasted day of all is that on which you have not laughed." (I don't know who said it, but I like it.)

Answering the OP, Ivan, yep there is a science-fiction movie produced by Columbia Pictures that's coming out in November 2009 called "2012". It's based on the novel FAREWELL ATLANTIS by Jackson Curtis. You can see the worldwide release dates of the movie. http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/2012/international/

Once you get to the above website you'll see "CLICK TO ENTER" to the left of the page. If you do decide to click, you only have seconds to look at the bottom of the page, then if want to, click on the yellow sign, THIS IS THE END, which is nothing more than media hype as far as I'm concerned, but some people are taking this stuff seriously. (Not me.) I do like to watch sci-fi flicks for fun when I've got the time which is rare. Right now I'm reading "MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE, Their Environment, Life, and Art" by Henry Fairfield Osborn, New York , Charles Scribner's Sons, 1919. This book is in mint condition.

 

[ideasrule]

I'll be having a birthday on the predicted date of the armaggedon: December 21, 2012. I'll be sure to invite some believers over.

 

[Integral]

Ivan,
I saw the same commercial, but, after removing my jaw from the floor, figured out that it was a movie.

I'll bet that the same group that panicked for Y2K will be buying another generator and replacing or adding to their disaster stash.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Here's the ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSXF9oTX4MQ"

 

[humanino]

It works : I find it so hilarious that I am actually wondering whether I will go see the movie, although I am perfectly convinced it would be a bore... They hacked my brain through humor ! I'm guessing Ivan already has a ticket.

 

[rootX]

Here's the ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSXF9oTX4MQ"

Couldn't even watch all of those 2 minutes ad .. too much BS.

 

[Wax]

I think I'm going to sign up and secure my chances. Chances of a PS3!
At the bottom of the website it says all rights reserved by Sony entertainment in case you guys missed it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan,
I saw the same commercial, but, after removing my jaw from the floor, figured out that it was a movie.

Yep. I posted as soon as I saw it, but within a few minutes I realized this must be a hollywood diddy.

Anymore it is hard to tell where the jokes end and conspiracy theories begin! My first thought was that some group was running the most sophisticated scam of its kind that I had ever seen - Let's see, if we run an ad a few times at a cost of $500,000, and we get two-million people to each send $5...

 

[junglebeast]

Discussion of 2012 prophesies has been closed, as per the general posting guidelines.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=2269439#post2269439

This is about a commercial that I just saw on tv for the "Institute for Human Continuity", which claims to be "preparing us for the world of 2012"! I hate to encourage the traffic for a site like this, but this is too much to believe.
http://www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/

At the moment I can't think of tv commercial that I've ever seen before for something like this. It almost smacks of an entirely new genre of... um...hmmm...well...I don't know quite what to call it. They are even running a lottery to see who gets to survive; not to mention having an election for the post-2012 leader of the world!

I'm not sure if this is some kind of expensive joke or what.

Edit: Oh crud! I bet it is a promo for a new movie or something...

Ivan,

Please note that this topic is in violation of PF rules, and (to quote you), "the rules don't specify who makes the claim. All discussion of is banned. The reason is that we address the subject in the rules and explain why we don't don't discuss it - it violates the laws of physics. If there is any evidence for free energy, it will require a paper published in a proper journal."

If you're going to give warning to other members who make similar posts, just for offhandedly mentioning a crackpot idea when they specifically state that they don't believe it, you should follow your own rules.

 

[ViewsofMars]

Paying tribute to NASA - Astrobiology - Ask a Astrobiologist

Question
why does the Mayan calendar say the world will end in 2012?i know you have answered the plant x question...however i have heard that they have been pretty accurate in the past with other planetary stuff ,did they use planets so much to date things? and does that make them better at understanding the solar system? so if they have predicted an end in 2012 will it happen ,how can you be sure you know more than they did?

[Answer]
Calendars exist for keeping track of the passage of time, not for predicting the future. The Mayan astronomers were clever, and they developed a very complex calendar. Ancient calendars are interesting to historians, but of course they cannot match the ability we have today to keep track of time, or the precision of the calendars currently in use. The main point, however, is that calendars, whether contemporary or ancient, cannot predict the future of our planet or warn of any bad things to happen on a specific date such as 2012.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
July 31, 2008
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=3664

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan,

Please note that this topic is in violation of PF rules, and (to quote you), "the rules don't specify who makes the claim. All discussion of is banned. The reason is that we address the subject in the rules and explain why we don't don't discuss it - it violates the laws of physics. If there is any evidence for free energy, it will require a paper published in a proper journal."

If you're going to give warning to other members who make similar posts, just for offhandedly mentioning a crackpot idea when they specifically state that they don't believe it, you should follow your own rules.

This was about the source of a commercial and the intent, not a claim. It is also in GD, not S&D. But you are right that it is close to the line. In my opinion, it doesn't cross the line. It was being viewed more as a sociological phenomenon. And even more so now because it is a movie advertisement.

So I can see your objection, but we are comparing apples to oranges. We don't continually debunk subjects that are already closed, which is what you were mad about. This is not a discussion for or against 2012 claims, it is a discussion about a commercial.

As soon as I saw the commercial, I knew it would become an issue here, which is why I posted in the first place.

 

[humanino]

Ivan, you need to get in touch with Greg in case he does not get a ticket. We would not want PF to vanish. You will need to take a hard-drive back-up of all the conversations with your ticket. It will cheer you up when there will be no internet.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan, you need to get in touch with Greg in case he does not get a ticket. We would not want PF to vanish. You will need to take a hard-drive back-up of all the conversations with your ticket. It will cheer you up when there will be no internet.

I really can't be bothered with this nonsense. I'm too busy preparing for the Y3K disaster.

 

[mgb_phys]

I really can't be bothered with this nonsense. I'm too busy preparing for the Y3K disaster.

There's January 19th 2038 first !

 

[Pengwuino]

Isn't posting about terrible movies against PF Guidelines?

 

[Wax]

Isn't posting about terrible movies against PF Guidelines?

Is it? Man, you guys are so strict in here. Even for general discussion!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Is it? Man, you guys are so strict in here. Even for general discussion!

Heh, no. The only movie officially banned is "What the Bleep Do We Know". That was banned because the crackpot content led to nonsense discussions; and lots of them! We may have to do the same with this one.

 

[Sorry!]

Heh, no. The only movie officially banned is "What the Bleep Do We Know". That was banned because the crackpot content led to nonsense discussions; and lots of them! We may have to do the same with this one.

is that the same as what the bleep down the rabbit hole? or something along those lines... I thought that movie was pretty good... and I don't recall seeing crackpot ideas in it hmph

 

[ViewsofMars]

This is about a commercial that I just saw on tv for the "Institute for Human Continuity", which claims to be "preparing us for the world of 2012"! I hate to encourage the traffic for a site like this, but this is too much to believe.
http://www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/

Ivan, I'm really glad you brought this up. A sincere thank you. It's important to me that the public be aware of information which I consider to be valuable especially when it deals with scientific issues or claims, as such was the case with the movie, Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed, which was debunked by many outstanding scientists that hit the Internet.

This my third post. However, I wish to share with you what I found out about the website you presented.

Once again a tribute to NASA! From ASK A ASTROBIOLOGIST

QUESTION:
19. What about the scary ads for the new film 2012? They tell us to look at these Internet sites to verify the doomsday threat.

ANSWER:
The pseudoscientific claims about Nibiru and a doomsday in 2012, together with distrust of the government, are being amplified by publicity for the new film from Columbia Pictures titled 2012, to be released in November 2009. The film’s trailer, appearing in theaters and on their website , shows a tidal wave breaking over the Himalayas, with only the following words: “How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world? [long pause] They wouldn’t. [long pause] Find out the Truth. Google search 2012”.

The film publicity includes creation of a faux scientific website (www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/) for “The Institute for Human Continuity”, which is entirely fictitious. According to this website, the IHC is dedicated to scientific research and public preparedness. Its mission is the survival of mankind. The website explains that the Institute was founded 1978 by international leaders of government, business, and science. They say that in 2004, IHC scientists confirmed with 94% certainty that the world would be destroyed in 2012. This website encourages people to register for a lottery to select those who will be saved; a colleague submitted the name of her cat, which was accepted. I learned from Wikipedia that creating this sort of fake website is a new advertising technique called “Viral Marketing”, by analogy with computer viruses.

QUESTION:
20. Is it possible that the influx of questions you describe is part of some kind of campaign for a book or movie, in the hopes that the volume of denials is taken as more “evidence” that there is a conspiracy?

ANSWER:
I ask myself the same questions every day, as the volume of mail I receive about Nibiru (along with various alignments and pole shifts) keeps increasing — now more than 20 per week. Clearly there is money to be made from people’s fear about an approaching doomsday. Some of this hype is apparently advertising for the science fiction disaster movie 2012 (see Question 19). Many websites are selling books and tapes about Nibiru or even “survival kits”. It is all very sad, that with so many real issues (such as global warming and financial collapse) people are being taken in by these lies. In the final chapter of a new astronomy book (The Hunt for Planet X) by Govert Shilling, he writes: “There is plenty to do for the debunkers – the archaeologists and astronomers who take a long and skeptical look at the tidal wave of Nibiru nonsense and explain with scientific precision what is wrong with this cosmic fairy-tale. They will have their work cut out in the next few years. And on December 22, 2012 there will be a new pseudoscientific cock-and-bull story doing the rounds and the whole circus will start all over again. Because no matter how many new celestial bodies are found in our solar system, there will always be a need for a mysterious Planet X.”
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers

 

[Flat]

Heh, no. The only movie officially banned is "What the Bleep Do We Know". That was banned because the crackpot content led to nonsense discussions; and lots of them! We may have to do the same with this one.

Oh wow, I remember that movie. I wrote a paper on it for extra credit in a sociology class.

 

[flatmaster]

I have a prediction regarding 2012: When the movie comes out this fall sites such as PF will be inundated with questions from moviegoers. We do have a little bit of time to prepare for this onslaught. One possibility: Create a (closed) sticky thread in general discussion that simply says "it's only a movie". When someone posts about 2012, point to the sticky thread and lock the questioner's thread.

Perhaps this will bring about an actual apocalypse while PF mentors are distracted.

 

[Moonbear]

Ivan, I'm really glad you brought this up. A sincere thank you. It's important to me that the public be aware of information which I consider to be valuable especially when it deals with scientific issues or claims, as such was the case with the movie, Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed, which was debunked by many outstanding scientists that hit the Internet.

This my third post. However, I wish to share with you what I found out about the website you presented.

Once again a tribute to NASA! From ASK A ASTROBIOLOGIST

Hmm...I never considered it from that angle. When I saw the ads for the movie, I assumed that some writer/producer/director combo had seen the conspiracy theories and decided it was a subject ripe for a blockbuster action movie full of disaster scenes. It never occurred to me that as the movie was being written and produced, that it could have been the studio seeding the conspiracy theories to ensure that by the time their movie was announced and advertised, everyone would already be familiar with the topic and more likely to be curious enough to want to see the movie. Now THAT is an even more interesting conspiracy theory, that the big movie studios are starting conspiracy theories circulating.

 

[WhoWee]

Yep. I posted as soon as I saw it, but within a few minutes I realized this must be a hollywood diddy.

Anymore it is hard to tell where the jokes end and conspiracy theories begin! My first thought was that some group was running the most sophisticated scam of its kind that I had ever seen - Let's see, if we run an ad a few times at a cost of $500,000, and we get two-million people to each send $5...

No, that has to be the mail us your gold programs - only in America.

 

[ViewsofMars]

Moonbear, I think we both agree that it's a science fiction movie. Thanks to Ivan, we're here to help the public realize that. Four postings to this topic is enough for me. I try to spend my money wisely so don't easily buy into media hype. I'll stick to reading my book that I earlier mentioned , MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE -Their Environment, Life and Art by Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1919. Art in 2009 seems to me might sometimes become in Hollywood movies, the ART OF DECEPTION.

A pleasure chatting with you.

 

[Evo]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

 

[rootX]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

It also made me wonder if Sony has anyone who can think responsibly. I see it them presenting some nonsense as facts (from the youtube ad). If they openly claim that this is fictional then it would be much better but not that I would watch it.

Edit:

I don't know if someone has already pointed out but wikipedia says IHF is a fictional institute:

The studio also launched a viral marketing website operated by the fictional Institute for Human Continuity, where filmgoers could register for a lottery number to be part of a small population that would be rescued from the global destruction.[16]

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

Its just a viral marketing strategy. I see no reason why this should make us any more worried about the average idiot than normally. I mean if you're really worried about people hearing and believing all kinds or ridiculous crap you should go after the people who intentionally propose it is the truth. Just listen to Coast to Coast for a week.

Edit: there was even a fairly well known hollywood bit actor in the commercial.

 

[Sorry!]

I think if people see this and can't draw the connection that it's for a movie then they would have believed this junk anyways... so why's it matter if sony is using it to their advantage it's smart. That's just my opinion anyways.

 

[Moonbear]

I think if people see this and can't draw the connection that it's for a movie then they would have believed this junk anyways... so why's it matter if sony is using it to their advantage it's smart. That's just my opinion anyways.

I agree. At least the ads I've seen on TV made it clear that it was advertising for a movie, after they lure people into paying attention to the ad with their dramatic statements about the end of the world.

This concept isn't new now, either, of taking people to a website where you really need to look closely to realize it's a movie. When The Golden Compass was getting advertised before release, they did that then too. Remember, there was a site where you got to find out what your Daemon was and what that supposedly meant about your personality, blah blah blah? It was fun, so people spread it quickly, and then as even those of us who would normally just ignore movie ads ended up looking at that one, word of mouth spread that it was about a movie.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The great thing about the 2012 nonsense is in a little more than two years, it will be a dead issue. Hopefully, when they wake up and they're not dead on Dec 22nd, millions of people will realize that they were being foolish. Given that we do have a deadline, this may prove to be a very useful. It will force people to reconsider everything they have been told.

Btw, there was nothing in the commercial that I saw suggesting that it was anything but serious. I really thought this was a scam [beyond a scam for movie advertising].

On the other hand, if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

 

[humanino]

if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

If I ever wake up dead, I will be freaked out enough not to care whether I was wrong or not ! What a strange concept

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If I ever wake up dead, I will be freaked out enough not to care whether I was wrong or not ! What a strange concept

Borrowed, more or less, from a child's poem

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man, he saw it, too.

 

[Moonbear]

On the other hand, if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

Ooh, that would be interesting, waking up dead. The zombies are coming!

 

[Evo]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

As if the 2012 disaster wasn't bad enough, I just heard a report on the radio that martians are landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

Welles even provided disclaimers! And look at how much trouble he got himself into.

 

[Evo]

As if the 2012 disaster wasn't bad enough, I just heard a report on the radio that martians are landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

A client of mine today gave me their e-mail address to send their account information to. I can't tell you what it was, let's just say that this person is a believer that some day soon, they will disappear from Earth in the blink of an eye and be taken "elsewhere".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A client of mine today gave me their e-mail address to send their account information to. I can't tell you what it was, let's just say that this person is a believer that some day soon, they will disappear from Earth in the blink of an eye and be taken "elsewhere".

Yes, and we have the Star Children, you know. My sister even fell for this. I have no idea how that got started, but I know she ended up going to a fortune teller, or psychic, or whatever they call themselves. But it wasn't so hard to believe when I thought about it. What new mother doesn't want to believe that her child is a special gift to humanity; that she was more special than other babies?

 

[Moonbear]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

If you follow the website in the clip, it takes you right to a very obvious SONY website. I would imagine that anyone dumb enough to believe it would follow the link for more information.

The other link to the instituteforhumancontinuity.org that's listed near the end of the video also is pretty blatantly for a movie. It's a site also created by Sony Pictures and even says on it "Explore the 2012 Movie Experience."

Honestly, I've gotten to the point where I don't care if people want to be stupid. If anyone is too much of a moron to know the difference between reality and a movie, they deserve to spend the next three years stocking up their disaster shelter and worrying about the end of the world.

 

[humanino]

The Institute for Human Continuity is taking our next big step in ensuring that the end is just the beginning. We’re holding an election to find the Leader of the Post-2012 World.
The leader could be anyone -- a waitress like Cynthia of Miami, Florida; a farmer like Bill of Warren County, Illinois; or a fledgling novelist like Jackson Curtis of Los Angeles, California.
[...]
1-Grand prize : Trip to Mayan ruins in Cacun
2-12 candidate prizes : A PLAYSTATION

Seriously, not funny !?

 

[drizzle]

Borrowed, more or less, from a child's poem

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man, he saw it, too.

huh, that felt like sinking into the sky, are you sure it’s a child poem?!