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We Are Living the End Times!
No, we aren't living in the end times.
People have been saying that we are in the end times pretty much continuously since the first ape grasped the idea that the permanence of the world may be in question. Since that point in time, the world has (as far as I know) not ceased to exist. The fact that you are reading this is proof positive.
For anyone who still clings to the belief that the rapture, or the Mayans, or a giant asteroid bent on punishing the wicked for disrespecting their elders, or any of a hundred other unstoppable dooms is at our doorstep, consider the probabilities involved. Every other prediction has been based on evidence as flimy or non-existent as the last. In general, they all come down to faith, so they're all on roughly equal footing.
Let's do some back of the envelope calculations. If one person per decade predicts the end of the world in the coming decade (which is a charitably low estimate in my unfounded opinion), and people have been doing so for probably six thousand years (which is a credible time frame even for young-earth creationists), that's 300 prediction events, out of which 0 have been successful. The 95% confidence interval on that is 0 to 0.0099.
Not that I have any expectation that this argument would sway a true believer, but it needed to be said.
Article submitted Friday, June 10, 2011 & read 3 times.
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