
I’ve always heard the world will probably end December 21, 2012. The logic is very simple. The Mayan calendar runs out on December 21, 2012, so therefore there are no days after December 21, 2012. Simple. Now, I’ve never bought into that doomsday prophecy for simple reason that if the Mayans knew the future, they would have known their calendar would serve them no purpose long, long, long, before 2012. So, since they had no days long before 2012, the logic they could predict the future with a calendar seems seriously flawed to me. However, Universe Today explains it even more logically. Namely, the reason their calendar runs out on December 21, 2012 is because their date will look something like this:
13.0.0.0.0
Look familar?
Looks a lot like an IP address to me.
The Mayans used basically an arbitrary cross of base-13 and base-20 numbering to mark passing years and their version of months. I’m not sure if the Mayans or Ian O’Neill at Universe Today simply used this format to make it easier to understand. But, the basic concept is the same as IP addressing that is the heart of basically all communications and data exchange for the human race at this time. Now, this leads me to wonder that since someone figured out that if there are no days left after the Mayan Calendar runs out, what happens when we run out of IP addresses? Will the ability to communicate via internet cease to exist as well?
Just gotta wonder, dontcha?
( Quickie update: No sooner than I posted it, the ICANN people came out and said we’re running out of IP addresses. Does this mean the end of the world? )
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