Every few years, new prophecies and claims emerge proclaiming that the end of time is near and humans have come to face their inevitable doom. In 2000, the start of the new millennium brought “The Y2K” problem that predicted the end of the world and most recently in May 2011, Harold Camping of the religious “Family Radio” proclaimed his failed “Judgment Day.” Now in late 2012, the next assumed hype is the Doomsday of 2012, December 21, 2012. A date that has been noted for years now, December 21, 2012 has influenced many books and even the seemingly realistic movie, 2012, causing much distress for many Doomsday believers around the world. There’s just one problem: there is no credible evidence that there will be an apocalypse.

One of the oldest prophecies and one most commonly associated with the December 2012 dates back to 200 B.C. with the ancient civilization of the Mayans in South America. The Mayan Empire, pioneering in technology and calculations was renowned for the calendars created during their reign. Their calendars were divided into two different periods – long count and short count. In the process of creating these calendars, the date December 21, 2012, a winter solstice, happened to fall on the final day of a long-count period and it was claimed that no other calendars or dates followed. By this small fragment of ancient history, a ridiculous theory has been brought about that the Mayans predicted the end of time.

How can people accept this absurd claim? Archaeologists have found carvings that date further than 2012, disproving this prophecy immediately, but even if this evidence hadn’t been found, the reality that our society has anticipated this Doomsday based on the termination of calendars by an ancient civilization alone, is pretty sad. Even more upsetting is that the Mayan Calendar “evidence” is one of the most logical theories that supports the 2012 Doomsday, as even more insane claims have emerged in the last decade.

In 2003, claims that a mysterious “Planet X” named Nibiru by its discoverers, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia, was headed towards a collision with Earth. Originally predicted in May 2003, the failure of this claim prompted this collision to be ‘rescheduled’ to coincide with the Mayan “prediction” of December 21, 2012.

Not only has NASA stated that the orbit of this “Planet X” does not show any signs of orbiting towards Earth, the idea that this collision was altered to fall on the date of the Mayan Doomsday is just an added spook conjured to scare the already fearful believers of December 21, 2012.

            Even a recent scientific invention has sparked rumors that its reactions could trigger a 2012 apocalypse. The “Large Hadron Collider” (LHC) is a huge particle accelerator created in 2009 located in a circular tunnel outside of Geneva, Switzerland. This accelerator, which sends hydrogen protons into the air helping to discover new elements and particles, has been named “The Doomsday Machine.” Recent speculations from theorists are that the LHC could produce a black hole that could easily consume Earth.

If this sounds like a bunch of exaggerated science-fiction propaganda to you –that’s because it is. While scientists do not disprove the complete idea of black hole formation by this machine, Robert Cassadio of the University of Bologna in Italy and his colleagues agree that “the growth of black holes to catastrophic size does not seem possible,” especially in the short span of the three years at which this machine has been activated.

Even without seeing the facts and figures displayed all over the media, many have already dismissed the thought of a predictable 2012 Apocalypse (as they should). However, it is alarming to see the amount of people around the world anticipating this “Doomsday” whether they’re ill informed or just plain crazy. Regardless, fears have heightened to an extreme over the advent of December 21.  NASA has recently received thousands of questions in the past few months from many, especially teenagers, demanding answers about the apocalypse. An astrobiologist from NASA has even received emails from some planning to take their lives or the lives of their children in order to not endure the suffering on December 21^st.

While these measures are drastic and immoral, they are also easily preventable. Those that are skeptical that they will continue their lives past this December need to get informed. To think that lives could be lost over preposterous claims, some predicted tens, hundreds, thousands of years before, is an upsetting thought. Many need to understand the irrationality of this entire situation. There is no hard evidence, just fictional assertions, all which are not supported by some of the greatest scientists in the world. By denying the end of the world come December 21, 2012, many can move on with their lives, learning to overcome the luring susceptibility of Apocalyptic claims presented each year.