Do you beleive Nostradamus prediction about the end of the world?

Question

I was having a discussion about the end of the world with a co-worker yesterday and she was talking about Nostradamus's prediction for the end of the world. He predicted Dec. 21, 2012. Does anyone really beleive this?

Answer 1

I believe you are referring to the end of the Mayan calendar. While it may happen, I don't believe it. I would not be socking away money for my old age if I did.

And who's to say that, if the Mayan culture had continued without interference from Europeans, that they might not have created another calendar to start on the next day?

After all, do we believe that the world ends every December 31st? Or do we bring out the new calendar?

Oops ... I forgot. Not having a date for New Year's *is* the end of the world ... to some! <g>

Answer 2

Nostradamus did not predict that. That was the Mayans. Nostradamus predicted great struggles and dark times around the 21st century, but not the end of the world. He said he could see into the future as far as 3097.

As for whether I believe that or not, no I don't, but I'll be scared on the 20th anyway.

Answer 3

no...because he's french, they'd just like the rest of us to believe they're right

Answer 4

Nostradamus predicted everything in terms so vague that only after an event can we draw any relation. And hindsight is 20/20.

I think he just wrote vague poems that we have now attributed to actual events.

Answer 5

according to what nostradomous predicted the world already shouldve ended,the date that your posting dec.21,2012 is the ancient mayan pretiction,the mayan calender ends on that date,and todays astronomers are impressed on the accuracy the ancient mayans to predict solar exclipes thousnds of years ago,the mayan calender is more accurate than our own gregorian calender...and according to mayans the world is not gonna end,civilization is gonna end,after the catastrophy only a few will be left and start again like the stone age!

Answer 6

people i know mostly treat it as a joke.

Answer 7

December 21, 2012 is the so called Mayan prophecy, not Nostradamus', concerning the end of the world. Nostradamus' end of the world prophecy gives a later date.

However, I do not believe either for one reason, a prophecy is not up to those who make it to say when it will occur. Rather, they make their prophecy fairly vague and other's interpert what they say. The problem is that there is going to be many different interpertations.

In the 2000 Old Farmer's Almanac there was an article on how to become a prophet in six easy steps. The six steps are:

1.Predict the past. If it's happened in the past it's likely to happen again.

2. Avoid being specific. Remember the whole Y2K thing? Computers and various tech that relies are computers were all suppose to crash at midnight, January 1, 2000 plunging the world into chaos. Avoiding specifics means not giving exacting details that could end up being wrong.

3. Predict the obvious. This means to predict things that obviously will happen.

4. Leave home. No, this doesn't mean to actually leave home. Rather, take on an exotic name and claim your from far away. You're neighbors are likely to say "Yup, it's just crazy old Floyd talking out the side of his head again." if you predict as yourself. But if your Svengali from Istanbul their gonna be more likely to take you seriously (but remember not to actually speak your prophecy in person to them cause they'll know who you are)

5. Leave yourself a way out. This means to leave yourself a way to say "I never said exactly what or when it would happen." That way folks can't say "Hey, you were way off the mark."

6. Predict something intresting. People want to hear about things their really interested in so give them what they want.

Now the first two steps are the most important with steps 3, 5, and 6 really reiterating them. In this day and age of internet animosity step four becomes a little less important, though you still want to pay attention to it. But I'm sure you're wondering what I mean by steps 3, 5, and 6 reiterating steps 1 and 2. Well, predict the past. Things that are obvious and intresting have occured in the past and are thus just as likely to occur again. Avoid specifics. If you're too specific you don't have a way out. It's one thing to have a few specifics to lead folks in a general direction, it's another to have so many specifics that they can be proven wrong. In otherwords, leave things open to interpertation.

Let me give you an example that I've been using all year. Let's say I decide to become a prophet and so I give the following prophecy

"In the eighth year the favorite shall win the race and history shall be made."

Ok, what do I mean? Here's the specifics of the prophecy. There's some kind of race. It occurs in the eighth year. The favorite wins the race. History is made.

So we know what basic direction to look in, but we still don't know exactly what's going on. Firstly, we don't know when the eighth year is. Is it the eighthyear of a particular century, the eighth year of a particular decade, the eighth year after a particular year, what? So there's my first out, I never said when exactly the eighth year is. Now had I said in '08 I'd have given a little bit more of a direction to look into and still have had a way out because I never said 2008. I could have meant any '08 so if people were to say "hey, you said that was to occur this year" I could respond "which '08 did I mean?"

Secondly, we've got a race occuring. But what race? Is it a political race? A horse race? An automotive race? An Olympic race? A Marathon? A pig race? A dog race? What? Here's my second out, I never explained what the race is. This is predicting the past and something intresting. People are intrested in races and races have occured in the past. Not everyone is interest in all the types mentioned above or any races not mentioned. But there is going to be some kind of race folks are intrested in.

Thirdly, we have the favorite winning. This is both predicting the past and predicting something intresting. There have been plenty of different races in the past where the favorite has won the race and people are always intrested to see if the favorite will win the race or if someone folks don't even expect causes a major upset. But this isn't obvious. The favorite doesn't always win. And because of that I have to rely on the others for the out.

And finally, history will happen.  My out is that any race always makes history. In fact I can easily point out that anything that happens makes history the moment it happens no matter how important it is. My out is also the prediction of the past, even if we've forgotten about them or don't even know about them they made history at the time they occured. This is also pointing out the obvious. Again once something happens it becomes a part of history, that much is obvious.

But it's up to people to interpert what I mean by this prediction. Since it's 2008, someone in the US could say this is refering to the US presidential election, especially since I started using this example back in February. The presidential election occurs every four years, in odd numbered decades that means it occurs in the years ending in 2 and 6 while in the even numbered decades it occurs in the years ending in 0, 4, and 8. 8, the eighth year of a decade. Also, this presidential election has already proven historic. The first woman to make a presidential bid. The first black man to be chosen as their parties presidential canidate. If Obama wins, he'll mark another history making element, the first black man to win the Presidency. But if McCain wins he'll still make history as he'll become the oldest man elected as President of the US (Regan is currently the oldest man to have been elected). And it could be pointed out that both Obama and McCain can be viewed as the favorite for their respective party.

But also this is an Olympic year, so if the prophecy is interperted to mean 2008 then maybe I mean one of the gold medal races. And I don't have to men an actual race race. Even sports like beach volleyball, gymnastics, and fencing can be said to have gold medal races as athletes and teams are trying to beat others in their sport for the gold. In this case, maybe I meant Micheal Phelps winning his fifth gold medal.

In this case I actually had nothing in mind. And that's how most prophets should be. Nothing really particular in mind, just an idea of what the prophecy should say and what direction it should take folks in. It is then up to folks to interpert the meaning of the prophecy.

And that's what has happened with the Mayan prophecy. People have interperted that because the Mayan calendar ends on that day the world will end on that day. But it's more likely that either the Mayans just stopped making a calendar or they made another that either hasn't been found yet or it has and no one realized what they had. Or it was destroyed, thus making it even more difficult to find.

Answer 8

Even Nostradamus' contemporaries were well aware that he was a charlatan, and his reputation hasn't improved with age. But you can easily find people who will believe in just about anything. P. T. Barnum got rich on that insight.

Answer 9

Yes, unfortunately people do believe it.   It is utterly ridiculous nonsense.  People have been predicting the apocalypse for millenia; they have never been correct even once.

Answer 10

That was the Mayans.

Not really, but I'm still suspicious.

Answer 11

I'm sure some people do so believe

I don't!