Ok, lets start with the lost city of Atlantis. Let me tell you why this famous ancient lost city probably never existed in the simplest terms possible.
The only person to ever write about the lost city of Atlantis was Plato, and it was probably a work of fiction.
If the city had actually existed and was a civilized and advanced society, we would have records of it in other nations. Bills of trade with other nations, art work, stories, scrolls of knowledge, the list goes on. But we don’t, we only have Plato’s story. Sounds to me like a work of fiction. Case closed.
Now lets talk about 2012. I’m amazed, or rather I guess I’m not that amazed at how many naive people actually believe that something either catastrophic or enlightening will happen on December 21st, 2012. People are always looking for something magical in the world, whether it be peace on earth or the total destruction of it.
Nostradamus is said to have written about 2012. This is bullshit. Nostradamus wrote a bunch of poetry that doesn’t require any decrypting. All it requires is someone to come along with wishful thinking looking at a bunch of vague poetry and claim it prophecy. Drawing compassions where there are no comparisons.
As for the Mayans, I’ll give them a little bit more credit because at least they seemed to map things out a little better. But anyone who wants to take the word of a culture more then a thousand years old over modern, more advanced science, has to buy this bridge I’m selling. It’s a great deal. ;)
This concept people believe that somehow ancient cultures know more about the world and universe then modern humans do, it’s a little silly. They may have known a great deal, especially for their time, they may have even lived in better harmony with the world then we do. But they’re is nothing magical about that. There is nothing about that which would gain them special knowledge beyond our own.
People forget to give credit to the modern world and the advancements of modern science. Probably out of some desire for mystery. People love mystery. Guess what? There is plenty of mystery left in the universe, but it requires tools and advancement to find it, one step at a time. I can prove this to you in one sentence. How are we to discover the mysteries of the universe without first building the machines that will get us out into the universe to do the discovering? If you can answer me that without some magical or religious answer (which are basically the same thing) then I’ll give more credit to such ancient thought.
I agree to some extent… How can people from long, long, long ago foresee that our world will self-destruct? I mean, if they knew all, they would’ve had what took years for modern man to have. How can we base facts on what’s to happen in the future from those who had no idea what the future will hold. No one really knows what the future holds for us, there are predictions, as there always will be…but there’s no solid proof to anything. But I do believe there’s a God up there somewhere…where’s my proof? I have none, I just have faith…
You have Nostradamus down, 2012 is sort of silly. Is there a track record of Mayan predictions being accurate? No. Atlantis, you are very likely correct. But that is far from ‘case closed”. I would say the case is closed as far as modern fantasy versions of this advanced society. Back then advanced would not take much. As to a lack of mystery.Oh please that is just a lack of eduction (not on your part). Our greater scientific knowledge has given us the tools to truly understand. How very little we really understand at all. Is the time you spent reading these words even real, is time what you think it is? Many theories in the realm of theoretical physics seem to indacate that time is not liner at all. Time might not actually exist as we think it does.
Mystery is not in short supply
How interesting…I was having a conversation with someone about 2012 yesterday. I agree with you on both accounts – Nostradamus has an incredible pull for people, and if he was in fact some great predictor of the ages to come, he should have written these predictions more clearly and with indisputable details tied in. But I think that for most, the Mayans and Nostradamus serve as a way to gain some sort of handle on the unknown…it makes them feel more in control of the future, even if that belief also tells them that life will come to an end on a certain date. Control over the uncontrollable…
Thanks for writing this! I, too, find the idea of ancient prophecy to be absolutely ridiculous. That the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 isn’t a sign of the apocalypse…that calendar has counted down to a dozen other “endings,” and all those endings represented were the beginning of new calendar cycles. I love the combination of pseudo-intellectualism and blind, fact-ignoring faith that constitutes New Age thinking.
It’s also astonishing to me that there are people that ignore the great advances of Nostradamus’ era (it was the frakkin’ Scientific Revolution, after all) in favor of the self-styled mystic soothsayer. Would-be prophets who write in riddles? No, that hasn’t been going on for milennia! Laughable. The Internet is full of bad poets…I wonder if anyone will call them prophets, too?
Atlantis: Atlantis never existed. Plato was making a point about societal hubris, and the fact that people to this day can’t figure that out is a prime example of intellectual simplicity at its absolute worst. Atlantis was a literary and rhetorical device employed by a social theorist…no more, no less. I suspect Plato actually drew his inspiration from stories of the ancient Minoans, whose advanced culture was wiped out by earthquakes (most likely) centuries before the rise of Greek society.
In 2002, people accidentally came across an “Atlantis” that was over 9,000 years old (before any other major civilization has been know to exist). It was discovered off the west coast of India, covered completely in water. The only reason they found it was because they were doing some studies on pollution in the area. Since the water there is so treacherous, it’s almost impossible to study the city.
Here’s the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1768109.stm
Now, it may not be the Atlantis that Plato described, but what if he was merely trying to take artistic license about an ancient society (like the one above) that actually did exist?
-shrug-
@methodElevated – Now that’s interesting. And a possibility.
Not really in the history of the City of Atlantis(although I’ve always believed it to be fake) or of anything about 2012 but I do notice people always thinking something big is going to happen when it’s not. Well nothing like world peace or total destruction anyway. So not really sure what all I can say on this subject.
According to Nostradamus wasn’t the world supposed to end a few years ago?? I am a realist and try not to worry about any “Sky is falling in” theory. The 2000 thing really scared me thanks to one of my friends and I don’t listen to all the crap now!
I was actually watching the History channel show today on Nostradamus, and his 2012 predictions (You know the one they play back to back around New years), and got to thinking about how ridiculous these believers are. There are people who dedicate their lives to finding out “the truth” of 2012 (as described as their profession on the show). They make such huge leaps in the links that they connect, and most of them change throughout time. I was talking with my mother about it previously, and she says that she can remember watching similar shows where they link certain “prophecies” to an older event rather than the current event they’re linking them to now. In other words, they’re making it up as we go along. Anyway, just thought I’d add my thoughts on 2012 (since it was relevant to my day).
… now a zombie attack is what we need to be preparing for.. ;)
oh… and I noticed you put the Dark Tower series in your favorite book section of your profile… I’m on book four…. & am inspired to get a pair of sandlewood revolvers. :) No, but really, they’re fantastic.
@methodElevated - interesting possibility.
Okay dude. Now. I agree about Atlantis. It’s ambiguous. but one thing’s for sure, all the stories, are somehow rip – offs from reality. So there may be some ancient society which Plato named ‘Atlantis’.
But Nostradamus – I disagree. Do you know why he wrote this ‘bunch of poetry’? You may say that okay if you could see the future you would tell the stuff in simple, flat statements. Y make it complicated with different meanings? This thing has a reason. The Queen (soory can’t recall her name…look up the net for reference) came to him for knowing the future of her offsprings. He knew that both of them – the kids – would die at a tender age. And he didn’t want to hurt her, so he told her the whole thing in the form of poetry which at a glace seemed vague. Another one for you. One day he was standing outside with a friend and then he looked at a young boy. He said, “He is going to be the Pope.” And it turned out to be true. He was a prophet, Michael. He was gifted. Believe it or not. But yes I also support the thing that his predictions may turn out to be false. I hope the one about 2012 is false. And as far as for your scientific beliefs. I agree. But then I don’t deny the existance of the supernatural. Since it has never happened to you, you won’t believe it. I can’t complain about that.
The end of the world thing has had so many dates. It’s crazy.
I do think that even in some conspiracy theories the similarities in Symbolism is still pretty much an interesting thing.
it’s all crazy stuff but i don’t know whether i believe all of it or not, i’m just gonna wait around and see what happens.
please ignore the following statement:
“But they’re is nothing magical about that.”
grammatical error.
i hope you know what’s wrong with that sentence.
aaaaand there were some more but that’s the one that bugged me the most.
just ignore this. really. i had to say something though. xp
I’d like to believer there was Atlantis, seriously it would make it a whole lot more interesting but who knows
Oh, but Jesus is coming back next year! Hadn’t you heard? We don’t need to worry about 2012. We’ll have Raptured out of our pants by then.
people can be naive in placing belief in certain things. eg. scientology.
@methodElevated – That news story is seven years old, and there’s a reason we haven’t heard much about it since. Graham Hancock is a notorious “ancient civilizations” nutcase…he’s always appearing on fringe talk radio shows expounding on some “discovery” or the other, and has written a number of books on related subjects. That the article tapped him to comment is rather telling, since the evidence discussed in that article went to press before the peer review process demanded by the scientific method. In the years since the announcement it has all been discredited as unreliable and unfounded.
Archaeology would have loved for it to be true–grant money is hard to come by these days–but it was just wishful thinking.