Photo: Alexander Chlum / Shutterstock / Getty
It does and doesn't make sense. Stay with us here...
By Jaycee Levin — Updated on May 29, 2022
TikTok is full of conspiracy theories.
From videos theorizing that Justin Bieber is a lizard, Katy Perry is actually JonBenet Ramsey, there's really no theory you can't find "proof" of on TikTok.
One such theory that went viral on the social media platform is asserts that the world ended back in 2012 and we've been living in an alternate reality ever since.
Did the world end in 2012?
Back in 2011, many people became convinced that the world was going to end on December 12, 2012 based on a series of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events now known as the 2012 phenomenon.
This is thought to have been because December 12, 2021 was the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, as well as a belief in what people saw as a Mayan prophecy that the world would end in 2012.
Of course, that date has now come and gone and we are still here.
Or are we?
Some think we were launched into an alternate reality when scientists at CERN found the Higgs boson 'God particle'
According to TikToker MJ Patek, the world actually did end in 2012. "We're living in a parallel universe," Patek says.
He claims that scientists' discovery of the 'God particle' at CERN on July 4, 2012 realized physicist Stephen Hawking's warning that the discovery of such a particle would destroy the earth, sending us into a "different timeline."
This particle, known as the Higgs boson, is believed to be scientific proof that an invisible energy field called the Higgs field exists and provides other particles, such as the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up the physical matter we can see and touch, with mass.
Scientists also found that the particle's mass is exactly that needed to keep the universe stable, which is where Hawking's warning comes in.
Hawking had warned that tampering with such a particle could cause the universe to "undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light."
According to conspiracy theorists, the discovery of the God particle induced this black hole vacuum into a parallel universe.
"I think that since 2012, me and you can agree the world has been a pretty odd place," Patek says.
Some say the Mandela effect is proof that the world as we knew it ended in 2012 and we shifted into an alternate reality
The Mandela effect is a term used to describe collective false memory, or when a large group remembers something differently from how it actually happened. A quick search on the internet will provide a number of examples where we remember things differently, with many of them seemingly involving pop culture from prior to the year 2012.
For instance, when you picture Curious George, you probably envision him with a tail since he is a monkey. Interestingly, he never had a tail.
Also, many people remember the “Berenstein Bears” children's book series. Well, they were actually the “Berenstain Bears.”
'The world ended in 2012' conspiracy theory debunked
It's easy to get caught up in TikTok conspiracy theories, and a lot of us do, as evidenced by the millions of views many of these videos get. But it's important to remember that these videos are uploaded for just that: views and clout.
During the supposed onset of Doomsday in 2012, ABC News provided live updates from across the world proving that people were still living past midnight on December 21, 2012.
And a day after the world was supposed to end, NASA reminded everyone that we are still here on Earth, a planet that has continued turning for almost 10 years post-December 2012.
"The Maya calendar did not end on Dec. 21, 2012, and there were no Maya prophecies foretelling the end of the world on that date," Dr. John Carlson, director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, explained to NASA.
Indeed, back in 2011, Mayan codes researcher Sven Gronemeyer told AP that his "new reading of a Maya tablet mentioning the 2012 date suggests that it refers to the end of an era in the calendar, and not an apocalypse."
And as convincing as some Mandela effect examples may be, science generally attributes such false collective memories to matters pertaining to human psychology.
More for You:
Jaycee Levin is a writer, influencer, and blogger living in New York who loves celebrities, fashion, and reality television. Follow her on on Instagram.