end of the world

[discovery]

i would like to know how people know the world is going to end and how is it going to end. some people say 2006 and some say 2012 is this scaremongering?

[Loosehead]

The world will end in approximately 5000 million years when the Sun has used all it's fuel. It will expand to a red giant incinerating the inner planets. During this phase the outer planets' moons will probably be habitable for a short time but would soon freeze to pretty close to 0 kelvin when the sun becomes a white dwarf.

[bernardo]

It will end on 32nd Octember 2044 when a vast intergalactic blob of custard srashes into the Earth.  No it is not scaremongering, because it doesn't count if there is no probability of being believed.

[Chillum]

mmmmmmm...custard.

[andy hughes]

On a more serious note - a number of religions have purported to believe that the end of the world as we know it (cue for a song) is set for a certain date.

Obviously no-one 'knows' but relgious docrtine is rooted in faith, which by definition is a belief in something which cannot be proved.

There is certainly an element of fear involved in these notions, but human nature assimilates these ideas, and accepts (in the very small minority) or rejects them, and the world carries on .... unless you know different? 

[WaldoMcFroog]

Actually, according to a previous question,

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History-and-Myths/Questio n99169.html

 the world already ended last Thursday! And I didn't even notice. I must pay attention in future.

The truth of the matter is that Loosehead is probably correct about when the world will end. However, there's a strong possibility that some halfwit will start a nuclear war or we'll degrade the environment so far that we'll have become extinct a long time before. And that really is a worry.

[ursula62]

I believe the 2012 bit is a prophecy from the Mayans. Hopefully it will be before we have wasted a load of money on London's Olympic bid!

[El D]

The world will never end. The enviroment will radically change tho.

[hopalong]

Why worry?  

[dosset]

Loosehead is correct in what he is saying ,the sun is halfway through its life and yes the world will end but by that time life on earth (humans) will probably have been  extinct for some time

[ezapf]

I thought it ended in 1984. Now I'm really confused.

[Octavius]

The world won't end for several years (as in Loosehead's theory), but civilisation can end at the drop of a burning fireball of meteorite or some such and then civilisation will re-invent itself in another life-form.

Live every day as if it was your last.  You have been warned.

[pjm007]

I hope its not before July when i go on holiday

[Famous5]

This is the way the world ends ..not with a bang but a whimper (T S Eliot)

[the freak]

Apparently the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt can be used to calculate the future. The Institute of Pyramidology in London says that the pyramid has already predicted the crucifixion of Jesus, the First World War, and that the world will end in 2979 AD.

[pjm007]

the freak, so we are OK until July then ? Thats a weight off my mind !

[Peter Pedant]

It was a commonly held belief that the world would end after a 1000 years after Christ. That is after a millenium. In England, they couldnt tell within a year or two but it is said that there was a belief in some quarters.

This explains to some extent why the feeling that the world will end and its studyis called millenarianism.

Millenarial beliefs spring up when when there are plitical upheavals  - 1640s England for example. or times of natural disasters - Black Death 1342 or the recent tsunami.

I hope this is somewhat the answer you were hoping for that some ofthe others appearing above.

[acw]

Of course if we believe the films, then it will end the day Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith have a bad day at work and don't achieve those targets Z keeps setting them!

Or the custard theory - that's also a good idea.  I just hope it comes with jelly!  Or apple crumble....... mmmmmmmmmm pudding!

[NewDazzler]

Watch Dr. Who in the next few weeks for a definitive answer, YAY, Dr. Who is back. I really like Chris Eccleston's cynical, but humerous Doctor, just hope his choice of companions improves. Sorry for the slight off-topic-ness :)

[Octavius]

the freak, did the Institute of Pyramidology predict those things after they had happened?  If so, I can predict a second world war.

[Radionut]

It'll end to-morrow. But to-morrow never comes, when you think about it when to-morrow arrives it becomes to-day. So, it will have to be to-morrow, but there again that becomes to-day, so to-morrow will have to do. By the way, if there is any custard left, can I get some to go with my donuts to-morrow ?