A shocking theory claiming the world ended in 2012 and humanity has been living in a simulation ever since has regained online popularity. The theory stems from the ancient Mayan calendar prophecy, which supposedly marked the end of the world on December 21, 2012. While that date passed without catastrophe, leading experts to dismiss it as merely a calendar cycle rollover, the so-called 2012 phenomenon has experienced a resurgence driven by recent events including the Covid-19 pandemic, climate crises, and widespread social and political unrest. Believers argue the world we see today is a “post-glitch” universe—a parallel dimension where all human consciousness was transferred when the original universe ended over a decade ago.
Simulation theorists suggest the world’s end was either a programmed reset or collective death event, with ongoing existence sustained by advanced aliens, a matrix-like system, or a spiritual framework created by a God-like being. Some supporters point to the discovery of the Higgs boson particle at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider on the same date, claiming these experiments accidentally created a microscopic black hole that consumed Earth and transferred consciousness to a simulated reality.
On social media, claims that “the world ended in 2012” have become a common explanation for strange or catastrophic events, with one user declaring: “All the doomsday prophets can’t fool me. I know the world ended in 2012 and that we are actually in the final thoughts of a shared consciousness made of billions of dying brains.” Despite the theory’s popularity online, there remains no credible scientific or historical evidence to support these claims, with NASA scientist David Morrison having called the original 2012 doomsday predictions a “big hoax.”