Why do we think the Mayans could predict the future?

Okay, I am canceling this topic, due to the discovery of future-seeing funny hats.

BTW, the government has your mom.
Unless she's dead. Then they have your dog.
If you don't have a dog, they have your sister.
If you don't have a sister, they have your dad.
If he's dead...get a new one.
If you don't feel like it, go die in a hole.

Whoa, whoa

hold up. The Mayans clearly knew that global warming would become a problem, and thus chose not to invent the car. The Mayans didn't need paper, they knew it would cause an endless cycle of substandard education facilities.

hah, no but really, they were supposedly fond of astronomy and lined up their calender with some sort of celestial cycle (some sort of dark region in the sky? I can't remember). We just sensationalize them because we look at it and think "whoa, how did they figure that out with such limited technology?"
50% Voted for by Molzahn, Dylan Aphex, estrella..
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- Dylan Aphex
  January 25
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  HAHA!
  Well said Molzahn!
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We don't think the Mayans could predict the future. Why would Mayans want to invent cars they did pretty well without the wheel and probably wouldn't have wanted to pollute the fuck out of their environment, and a people that can build a whole civilization and culture like theirs without wheels well I'd say they'd have to be pretty smart to have achieved that!

Why are you trying to compare them to your own western European (before you jump back saying you're American, if you are white Caucasian then you are European, if you're not then apologies) culture?

Voted for by Dylan Aphex.

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Backward thgindiM
January 25
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Yes, I'm not. Thanks for asking but I am a lot hispanic...western Europe...oh, that is western...Europe. But, I'm 11, I have no clue what the heck your talking about.

Still, that doesn't mean they had any way of knowing when the world would end. And we have no proof that the fact that their callander ends means the world will end then. It could be a new beginning.
Alexander Hine
January 26
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Oh come on! Firstly, why is it not okay to compare any human civilization to any other? And, secondly, this whole "only Indians are American" (or in my case "only Aborigines are Australian") thing is just absurd - if you really believe that you would insist that everyone refer to themselves as Africans.

A. H.
- Backward thgindiM
  January 27
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  Your smart. You know of the future seeing funny hats.
petethemeat
January 26
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I think he was referring to cultural identity and values. American culture and values are highly linked to its European Origins, while culturally I am nothing like my African ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago.
- Weydon
  January 27
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  True, but it's rather tiresome to put up such a fuss about it. Americans got their culture from Europe, and then put their tweaks on it and made it their own, and Europe took some of that back to them, and back and forth and back and forth. Canadian culture is technically different than "American" culture as well.
  
  I agree with Alex. The huge majority of USA are part of a collective, yet varied, culture. Even the Native Americans and First Nation adapt to our culture while keeping their old traditions. If AMERICANS aren't American, who is?
petethemeat
January 27
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Unfortunately American perspective of culture seems to not go past the last two hundred years or so. The differences between American and European culture over the last two hundred years are largely 'cosmetic' differences, but values and deeply entrenched cultural factors remains much the same. The cultural differences between China and the UK, or India and Switzerland for example (cultures that have developed in isolation of each other for thousands of years, until very recently) are far more profound. The USA and Germany share for example a liberal democratic system of Government, a capitalistic economic model, personal freedoms of speech, religion and expression, checks and balances in Government, a presidential system and equality in law. While there are admittedly differences in how each nation goes about their affairs, both nations remain within the meta-ideology of a liberal - democratic, capitalistic paradigm.

The Mayans did not operate as we did, no system of government was similar to ours at the time. Not being able to use a horse or to fashion metal meant that every aspect of society was radically different from our society, both then and now. Globalisation has recently spread culture (largely American due to its economic power and popular media such as Hollywood), but massive differences still exist. If you were to go back one hundred years and visit our respective nations, the similarities would be striking, yet visit China, India, Iran or any other nation not using our ideology it would be entirely alien to us.
Weydon
January 28
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I understand this, Pete. In fact, if we want to bunch up cultures into broad categories we can give ourselves a global culture, and if we want to break it up more I can name 20 different cultures within walking distance of my house. The myriad of cultures in NYC, be it a melting pot or mosaic, is in itself a unique culture which is somewhat similar to other small regions which have taken in a large number of immigrants.

But the real point is, who is American and what is American if the answer is NO ONE? Wurz's point that I am apparently a Western European, and there are apparently no Americans here.
Dylan Aphex
January 29
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Weydon, I did not mean to imply that Americans are not Americans, Pete has pretty much summed up what I was trying to get across. The original post seemed to be comparing the Mayan culture with the modern day which does not have any real standing.
petethemeat
January 30
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The big difference is not having either horses, or being able to fashion metal. These two factors made the Meso-American cultures completely distinct from the rest of the world. I know New York has many cultures, but said differences between such cultures are actually rather slight compared to the radical differences exhibited by the Mayans,Aztecs Toltecs etc. Indeed their separation was so total, that outsiders riding on horses and burnishing metal and gunpowder weapons were seen as Gods - one of the reasons for their subsequent downfall.
Alexander Hine
February 3
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I still don't see any problem with comparing any culture with any other, in fact you do so in your post wurzalngu - giving major props to the clean-living Mayan :-) What do you mean when you say that such comparisons have no 'standing'? Also, with the Americans = Indians thing, it just bugs me because it makes no sense, but if you only mean that American (and Australian) culture are essentially outgrowths of Western European culture, then I agree...although I will get pissed off if you tell me I'm not an Australian because I'm not Aboriginal - my passport begs to differ :-P
Dylan Aphex
February 3
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That's exactly what I mean! I am not going to even try and attempt to begin with any American/Indian Australian/Aboriginal argument as the simple answer to that one is that we are all descended from Africa!

The whole point of me saying all that was due to the original post (which has now been deleted, something to do with hats) saying that how can the Mayans have possibly come up with this calendar based on astrological cycles, that just stops on 21/12/12. Many people interpret this as being the end of the world, disaster for humanity and Armageddon all rolled into one. Now, how could they have possibly done this when they hadn't come up with the modern day technology that we have today?!

It's a bit like saying how can the Ancient Egyptians have possibly built the pyramids when they hadn't invented the electric light bulb!