I think saying that we'll "nuke each other to hell long before then" is a load of nonsense.
The Mayans didn't say it would end specifically, but their calender ended at that point. I don't think this means the world will end. Maybe they just didn't finish the calender?
The whole thing comes from the fact that people believe the Mayans (and other tribes that used this calender, commonly called the Mayan calender although not invented by them specifically) never made an incorrect prediction. Whether this is true or not, we can't really be certain, however from what we've studied, most of their vague predictions did come true in a sense. But this isn't even a prediction, so it's all based on a hypothesis, and not a very good one.
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[email protected]His Royal Highness Utterly Awesome CoW I, who rules over the City of Wonder, posted the last message of 2009 and is now known as Mootilator.