Doomsday Returns – Monday-muse (16 Nov’09)
Pravin Sabnis
MONDAY MUSE (16 November 2009)
DOOMSDAY RETURNS
“I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive.” – Dr Carl Sagan
Dr Sagan’s apprehensions about modern gullibility continue to resonate in the present millennium as well. A latest disaster film makes specious claims interlaced with purportedly scientific message to suggest that the world would end in 2012. A fictitious website (set up by the producers of the film) lists the Nibiru collision, a galactic alignment and increased solar activity among its possible doomsday scenarios.
David Morrison of NASA received over 1000 inquiries from people who thought the website was genuine. He has condemned it, saying "I've even had cases of teenagers writing to me saying they are contemplating suicide because they don't want to see the world end. I think when you lie on the Internet and scare children in order to make a buck that is ethically wrong."
It is necessary to put the current hype about Mayan calendars and doomsday predictions in context. Though most prophecies of doom come from a religious perspective, the secular crowd has caused its share of scares as well. But it is pertinent to note that the one thing the doomsday scenarios tend to share in common is that ‘they don't come to pass!’
Yet the gullible continue to accept the incredulous. And yet, we do not pay heed to real imminent problems like global warming, pollution pressure, growing economic disparity and skewed developmental policies. It would be better if we trash doomsday predictions and instead set right our own irresponsible actions that may spell doomsday for the future generations.
In our real world there is much to be done; there is much to fear…
It will BE BETTER if we let go of the worry of a fake-doomsday year!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.
A life coach with a passion to connect people to their passion & potential, PRAVIN K. SABNIS employs creative competencies in theatre & trekking in his UNLEARNING UNLIMITED workshops conducted for leading corporate & other groups. The MONDAY MUSE series (based on JCI-India’s annual theme) was started on the first Monday of the year 2004.
Pravin Sabnis
Dear Pravinda,
Trust you are fine and doing well. You Monday Muse on the Doomsday was
a thought-provoking one indeed.
The Doomsday talk is indeed going on everywhere. While the memory of
the girl who committed suicide on the eve of the test of the Large
Hadron Collider still lingers on, there is now a new fear of how many
more gullible and naive will succumb to this new humbug. I remember
myself, as a kid I was worried about the end of the world and that
Kaliyug was to end soon. But with the questions answered well with
adequate scientific information not only quelled my fears, it also
fuelled the urge to know more.
Here the media (as always) has taken up Doomsday seriously and is
airing movies like Independence Day, Armageddon etc and other channels
have exhumed the prophecies of Nostradamus again. All linked and
spoken about vis a vis the latest Doomsday movie. I am sure the Indian
TV channels, Zee and NDTV, have geared up as well.
I remember receiving an email number of times on the proximity planet
Mars will be reaching to the Earth and that it will appear as large as
the moon. Then there are those who forward them blindly without any
thought. One such mailed had appeared on Goanet as well. Yet none of
them has never emailed back saying that the event never occurred. No
one ever questioned why. I have experienced only one case when a
friend of mine from Ahmedabad; who knew about my association with the
AFA in Goa, forwarded me the 'Mars' opposition email with a question
on it. She further took care to forward my reply to the person who
sent her the email. Only if everyone had treated the email the way my
friend did....
Is there anything positive people could take from these doomsday
shouts? I was watching a program on TV yesterday wherein an
anthropologist who has studied the Maya and Aztec civilizations said
that the silver lining to the cloud may be the renewed interest about
these ancient people and civilizations and more funding be available
to study them. This was noticed in the aftermath of the success of
'Jurassic Park' when palaeontologist were being received well.
With hopes of a better future,
Prashant Pednekar.
Kevin Saldanha
One way to quell these irrational fears is to host a few public discussions on the topic in a forum similar to others that seem to have found favour (eg. Friday Balcao)
I am in the process of setting up a Cafe Scientifique in Mississauga to discuss scientific issues an an informal setting. It is along the lines of http://www.cafescientifique.ca/ which evolved from the original http://www.cafescientifique.org/
In the US the have something similar called Science Cafe. The only requirement is that the event stimulates a dialogue between the presenter and the audience and so is usually held in a restaurant, pub or cafe.
I am sure you can adapt the concept to your own requirements and encourage the locals to get scientifically literate. That would be a big step towards a better future for all.
Kevin
Pablo Picasso - "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."