(End of the World Theories)

More and more as of late, “end of the world” theories have been abounding. Inspired by the old Mayan calendar prophesying the end of our age in 2012, websites have sprung up promoting the theory that our world has only a few years left on it’s clock. Buoyed by a turbulent time full of terrorism, economic uncertainty, and political instability, some of these ideas have even become mainstream. So mainstream in fact, that a Hollywood film named “2012″, which plays off those fears, received a budget of $200 million dollars, making it one of the biggest budget films of the year. The film opens this weekend on November 13th, 2009 in the United States, years ahead of the anticipated end of the world. It remains to be seen if the populace could be frightened into a scare reminiscent of the Y2K phenomenon, which failed to cause the end of the world, much less any major problems, despite fears ranging from power outages to nuclear weapons misfiring.