"
The End is Nigh" Aside
from the multiple prophesies of the end of the world that date back to
'biblical' times, the date for doomsday has been predicted by:
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| William Miller |
- various religious groups: Jehovah Witness :2014;
Adventists (William Miller): 1843 then 1844); Bishop James Usher (mid-1600s):
Oct 23, 1997; Hindu calendar:1999-2003; Jewish calendar: 2240; Muslim calendar:
2076
- various 'new age' groups: Nostradamus: July 1999;
Unarius Society: 1985 then 2000; Edgar Cayce: 2001-2001; Jack van Impe: after
year 2000; Richard W. Noone: May 5, 2000; remember the year 2000 new millenium
predicted 'crash'?
- "pop culture": Homer on 'The Simpsons'
(2011); Harold Camping, founder of 'Family Radio' who, in 2011, predicted the
end on May 21, 2011 then revised to Oct 21, 2011.
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| Homer Simpson |
Four decades ago,
a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer model called
World 3 warned
of an apocalyptic course for human civilization in the 21st century.
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| Nostradamus |
In May, 2012,
Scientific American Magazine reported
that in the book '2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years',
Jorgen
Randers of the
BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, and one of the
original World3 modelers, argues that the second half of the 21st century will
bring us near apocalypse in the form of severe global warming.
Randers claims that 'Food per capita is
going down, energy is becoming more scarce, groundwater is being depleted. Most
worrisome, greenhouse gases are being emitted twice as fast as oceans and
forests can absorb them'.
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| Edgar Cayce |
Graham Turner of Australia's
Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization fears that collapse could
come even earlier, but due to peak oil rather than climate change. After
comparing the various scenarios generated by World3 against recent data on
population, industrial output and other variables, Turner and, independently,
the
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, conclude that the
global system is closely following a business-as-usual output curve.
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| Apocalypse Due to Climate Change |
In this model run the economy continues
to grow as expected until about 2015, but then falters because nonrenewable
resources such as oil become ever more expensive to extract.
All of these 'predictions' have been
shown to be fantasy (so far). Perhaps what we should be more concerned with are
the 'scientific' predictions of the 'End of Days' (see the post:
Real Apocalypse). Then, if you make a prediction
and wait long enough, you're bound to be right.
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| PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency |
After all,
Sir Isaac Newton himself
predicted that the end of the world would occur in 2060.
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