Page 36 - 2011 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - January 2011

Apocalypse not happening in 2012 Relax: Apocalypse he said. thing, that's just whacked," she said. "We've got some problems here and it's "We're humans, that's what we do," probably not happening in our duty to clean them up. . . and the problems Simpson said. "We are pattern-finding 2012. So says the are so great right now that we don't have the creatures. ... Randomness makes us nervous, so sometimes we find patterns where none exist." luxury of going and watching a movie about the doomsday expert apocalypse." [] Not that he's a Pollyanna. There are things worth worrying about, DiTommaso says. Scientists Working On The Canadian Press There's pollution, for starters. Not to mention all those heavenly bodies hurtling through the sky. Alien Communication MONTREAL - Here's some good news and "If the Hubble space telescope or a ground Standards some bad news. The bad news first: You observatory picks up an asteroid that's going to probably won't get the day off work on Dec. 21, hit the Earth. . . that's scientific, it's verifiable," kotaku.com 2012. DiTommaso said. Now the good news: there's an excellent "But if a new religion comes out (like) After 37 years of broadcasting assorted chance the planet will still be around. they have in the past and says the Earth is going human garbage to the universe at large, Just ask Lorenzo DiTommaso. He's an expert on to end. . . well that's not." scientists are working on a protocol to insure humanity's long, futile history of predicting that In related news, astronomers are future messages to extraterrestrial intelligences the apocalyptic destruction of Planet Earth is currently keeping an eye on an asteroid named are more efficient and well-received. Can't we imminent. Apophis. just use Twitter? The Concordia University professor is Observations a few years ago indicated The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto completing a book about doomsday there was a 2.7 per cent chance it would strike Rico broadcast its first messages into space in prognostications — where he plans to dissect Earth in 2029. More recent observations have 1974, beaming a stream of binary code at century after century of the world's longest- set the potential impact date for 2036. [] globular star cluster M13 some 25,000 light running urban legend. years away. That message contained encoded He now has his sights set on the latest Two suns in the sky? information about human DNA, our solar prediction. system, and the telescope itself. Any alien The current cycle of the Mayan calendar Don't hold your breath intercepting this message would have likely expires on Dec. 21 of next year, fuelling the been bored to tears, changing course towards a Internet's frenzied apocalyptic rumour mill and Scientist dismisses doomsday more interesting planet. even spurring a blockbuster Hollywood movie. Since then we've been sending all sorts DiTommaso is willing to go out on a limb with predictions of exploding star. of cultural crap into space. Pictures, sound bites, the following prediction: "I'll tell you this right bits of music; the interstellar equivalent of pop- now. . . it won't happen," he said in an interview www.statesman.com up ads. Ads that alien beings might not even be Tuesday. able to see or hear, depending on whatever He points out that warnings of the WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Claims passes for sensory organs in their culture. apocalypse have been around for at least 2,300 that the star Betelgeuse is about to explode so he messages have also been rather years. Doomsday scenarios have featured spectacularly that it will appear as a second sun anthropocentric, featuring humans and our prominently in a multitude of cultures and play in our sky has been floating around the Internet culture prominently. Aliens must think we're so a central part in the world's three main for several months. full of ourselves. monotheistic religions. But those claims gained a grain of Now a team of scientists consisting of Starting with the Jewish scriptures, right credibility this week when a physics lecturer at Dimitra Atri from the University of Kansas, up to the end of the last book in the Christian Australia's University of South Queensland was Julia DeMarines from the International Space Bible, and in Islam's Qur'an, he says doomsday quoted as saying that such an event could University in France, and Jacob Haqq-Misra is a recurring theme. happen next year, which happens to be when the from Pennsylvania State University are "That (Bible's) Book of Revelation was Mayan calendar runs out, leading, some say, to proposing that future attempts at messaging to important to the history of western culture the end of the world. extraterrestrial intelligence (METI) follow a because it really formed our ideas about time, Betelgeuse is a bright red supergiant star strict set of protocols in order to reach the space and human existence," DiTommaso said. positioned in the right shoulder of the broadest possible audience without offending "Time had an ending, everything was either constellation Orion the hunter and is easily seen anyone enough to come and destroy us. good or evil and there's nothing in between." in the night sky at this time of the year, rising in These protocols would measure DiTommaso's book, ''The Architecture of the east after sunset. potential METI broadcasts against a broad Apocalypticism,'' will be published by Oxford As for the two-suns-in-the-sky range of factors, including signal encoding, University Press. He plans to complete the book predictions, a Miami astronomer begs to differ, message length, information content, this fall and write a trilogy on the subject. at least on the timing. anthropocentrism, transmission method, and What really disturbs him is that he "We've known for a very long time that transmission periodicity. The researchers detects a trend, over the last 40 years, where Betelgeuse is massive enough to end its life as a believe that short messages based on a simple more and more people have come to understand supernova," said Carolyn Simpson, a physics physical or mathematical language will work the world in apocalyptic terms. professor at Florida International University in the best, and we should try not to talk about It's showing up frequently in movies and Miami. ourselves too much. That's such a turn off. new religious movements. He even laments that But there's no reason to believe it will be The team is releasing their findings in a the apocalypic language of good versus evil has in 2012. study to be published in a future issue of Space infected political discourse. As an example, he "It could go supernova in the next five Policy. I did not know such a publication cites the famous "axis of evil'' phrase used by minutes, or in a million years," said Simpson, existed. That's okay, neither did James. T. Kirk, ex-U.S. president George W. Bush to describe who has a Ph.D in astronomy and loves and he did pretty well for himself. hostile regimes. debunking scientific misinformation. "We have Once the scientists come up with a DiTommaso, an atheist, says no way of telling." workable protocol, the entire human race will apocalypticism is not a realistic way to deal And it won't be as bright as our sun, become their guinea pigs. The plan is to with the world's political, environmental and though it could be brighter than a full moon at establish an internet website where normal folks social problems. night. It might be visible in the daytime, looking can receive and attempt to decipher sample "It assumes that the solution lies outside like a bright star or a pinprick in the daytime METI broadcasts, as well as suggesting their our capabilities — either God or the forces of sky, then fading over days or weeks, Simpson own messages and protocol tweaks. Dimitra history or some sort of messiah — will come said. Atri says it'll be one very large community down and save things and make it better for us," As for the 2012 connection, "The Mayan effort. []