Kryztian
22nd December 2012, 18:26
Congratulations, Human Race, we just survived another cycle of the Mayan Calendar system.
This 13 baktun cycle (on the Gregorian calendar the period from 3114 BCE to 2012 AD ) has been quite an exciting time for our species. Around the time the cycle began, many of us abandoned our nomadic lifestyles, developed advanced agricultural techniques, settled in towns along the Nile, Tigris, and Indus rivers, developed metal tools, writing, mathematics, and astronomy, codified laws, built cities and large structures. As our technology continued to develop, we moved to new parts of the globe, built kingdoms and empires, created complex systems of religion, philosophy, mathematics, wrote poems and plays, erected sculpture and architecture, composed music and many other manifestations of what we call "civilization."
Eventually, when we had learned to circle the globe with ships, some of us learned to suppress and conquer other peoples which we had only just encountered, and whose culture we hardly understood. As nations rose and governments grew, trees were felled, new lands claimed and more cities were built. All sorts of technologies were created that improved the comfort, quality and possibilities in our lives.
These technologies had their downsides too, and threatened our very existence. Some believed that the doomsday clock pointed to a minute before midnight, and we were destined to bring about the extinction of our own race, if not a mass extinction of the other life forms on our planet. But we made it through December 21, 2012 A.D. without destroying our selves. So now where are we headed?
We certainly have many challenges to face in the this new cycle. Will we cut down all our forests, pollute all our rivers and waterways, and contaminate our soil? Will we deplete all of our energy and mineral resources? Will our atmosphere be destroyed or will the other cycles of nature be thrown off balance by our impale? Will we ever stop the violence of war and terrorism? Will we continue to create economies and political system that put more power and resources into the hands of fewer and fewer people? Will democracy and the free exchange of ideas flourish, or will corporations exercise more and more control over our media and educational systems? Will unregulated research and experimentation with the genome, artificial intelligence, nano-technology and military technology create something devastating to our race and our planet? Will we still be here in 7138 A.D. when the next calendar cycle ends?
If we are to make it, we need to start planning now. Not a 6 month plan, not a 10 year plan, not a lifetime plan, but a plan to keep our planet verdant, peaceful, and free, for the next Mayan Calendar cycle. We need to look at the long haul, as the creators of this calendar did. We need to start now, to understand our current reality better, and to envision our possible futures, so that our human race can continue to flourish.
This 13 baktun cycle (on the Gregorian calendar the period from 3114 BCE to 2012 AD ) has been quite an exciting time for our species. Around the time the cycle began, many of us abandoned our nomadic lifestyles, developed advanced agricultural techniques, settled in towns along the Nile, Tigris, and Indus rivers, developed metal tools, writing, mathematics, and astronomy, codified laws, built cities and large structures. As our technology continued to develop, we moved to new parts of the globe, built kingdoms and empires, created complex systems of religion, philosophy, mathematics, wrote poems and plays, erected sculpture and architecture, composed music and many other manifestations of what we call "civilization."
Eventually, when we had learned to circle the globe with ships, some of us learned to suppress and conquer other peoples which we had only just encountered, and whose culture we hardly understood. As nations rose and governments grew, trees were felled, new lands claimed and more cities were built. All sorts of technologies were created that improved the comfort, quality and possibilities in our lives.
These technologies had their downsides too, and threatened our very existence. Some believed that the doomsday clock pointed to a minute before midnight, and we were destined to bring about the extinction of our own race, if not a mass extinction of the other life forms on our planet. But we made it through December 21, 2012 A.D. without destroying our selves. So now where are we headed?
We certainly have many challenges to face in the this new cycle. Will we cut down all our forests, pollute all our rivers and waterways, and contaminate our soil? Will we deplete all of our energy and mineral resources? Will our atmosphere be destroyed or will the other cycles of nature be thrown off balance by our impale? Will we ever stop the violence of war and terrorism? Will we continue to create economies and political system that put more power and resources into the hands of fewer and fewer people? Will democracy and the free exchange of ideas flourish, or will corporations exercise more and more control over our media and educational systems? Will unregulated research and experimentation with the genome, artificial intelligence, nano-technology and military technology create something devastating to our race and our planet? Will we still be here in 7138 A.D. when the next calendar cycle ends?
If we are to make it, we need to start planning now. Not a 6 month plan, not a 10 year plan, not a lifetime plan, but a plan to keep our planet verdant, peaceful, and free, for the next Mayan Calendar cycle. We need to look at the long haul, as the creators of this calendar did. We need to start now, to understand our current reality better, and to envision our possible futures, so that our human race can continue to flourish.