
There has been a lot of talk lately regarding a geomagnetic pole reversal in 2012 leading to the downfall of human civilization. The truth is, pole reversal is a very recent addition to a decades old doomsday prophecy.
It started in the late 60s when Michael D. Coe in his book
The Maya claimed 2012, and the end of the long count calendar, was a predicted apocalypse for the Maya. Somehow it was concluded within popular culture that of all the prophesies of all the dead civilizations throughout the world, this one was real, and the world will end on December 21, 2012. Nevermind the fact that recent research shows this was not seen as an apocalypse, but simply the recycling of the calendar count, similar to what the Gregorian calendar does every year on December 31.
As for the pole shift, that's another thing entirely, as I said a more recent addition to the theory states a geomagnetic pole reversal will occur and this date and doom civilization. The graph on the right shows all geomagnetic pole reversals for the last 5 million years, as you can see its not a regular event, and thus not a predictable one. To say the poles will definitely reverse in 2012 is a little like saying next week's Lotto numbers will be 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17. Sure, it could happen, but your predicting a completely random event, so I wouldn't bet on it.
I think the way this got attached to the 2012 thing is that there will be a pole reversal in 2012, but a heliomagnetic reversal, that is a reversal of the Sun's magnetic poles. I suppose you could assume gloom and doom will result from that, but its something that happens every 11 years, and since I don't recall the world ending in 2001 or 1990 I'm sure it won't end in 2012 either.
As for the Maya, like I mentioned earlier, it's simply the recycling of their calendar, the beginning of the 5th cycle actually. And there are other Mayan prophesies well past 2012, so they certainly believed their own civilization would last beyond that time, and we all know how that prophesy turned out.