President Clinton had exhorted the government in mid-1998 to “put our own house in order,” and large businesses — spurred by their own testing — responded in kind, racking up an estimated expenditure of $100 billion in the United States alone. Their preparations encompassed extensive coordination on a national and local level, as well as on a global scale, with other digitally reliant nations examining their own systems.
“The Y2K crisis didn’t happen precisely because people started preparing for it over a decade in advance. And the general public who was busy stocking up on supplies and stuff just didn’t have a sense that the programmers were on the job,” says Paul Saffo, a futurist and adjunct professor at Stanford University.
What is worth noting about this event is how public concern grows and reacts out of ignorance. Just because a pending catastrophe results in something ‘less-than’ does not mean best efforts weren’t taken to avoid it. Just because something isn’t as bad as it could have been doesn’t mean it was a hoax (see: covid19). Additionally, just because something turns out to be a grave concern doesn’t mean best efforts didn’t mitigate what could have been far worse (see: inflation).
After the collective sigh of relief in the first few days of January 2000, however, Y2K morphed into a punch line, as relief gave way to derision — as is so often the case when warnings appear unnecessary after they are heeded. It was called a big hoax; the effort to fix it a waste of time.
Written in 2019 about an event in 1999, it’s apparent to me that not much has changed. We’re doomed to repeat history even provided with the most advanced technology the world has ever known to pull up the full report of history in the palm of our hands.
The inherent conundrum of the Y2K [insert current event here] debate is that those on both ends of the spectrum — from naysayers to doomsayers — can claim that the outcome proved their predictions correct.
I never said it was nonsense. I said what a lot of people were worried about was nonsense- stuff like it causing nuclear armageddon or crashing the global economy.
And this event today isn’t even what IT professionals were worried about. This is a big headache for them and a day off for a lot of other people. It’s not going to do the damage Y2K would have done had people not done enough.
The United States would never send a crew up to stop an asteroid. If it’s a Dem president, SCOTUS would block it. If it’s Donald, he’d claim the asteroid is fake news and a Dem hoax, then the scoundrels in the House and Senate would obstruct any action via their little bunkers.
Y2K wasn’t nonsense. It was unremarkable, ultimately, because of the efforts taken to avoid it for a decade.
20 Years Later, the Y2K Bug Seems Like a Joke—Because Those Behind the Scenes Took It Seriously
What is worth noting about this event is how public concern grows and reacts out of ignorance. Just because a pending catastrophe results in something ‘less-than’ does not mean best efforts weren’t taken to avoid it. Just because something isn’t as bad as it could have been doesn’t mean it was a hoax (see: covid19). Additionally, just because something turns out to be a grave concern doesn’t mean best efforts didn’t mitigate what could have been far worse (see: inflation).
Written in 2019 about an event in 1999, it’s apparent to me that not much has changed. We’re doomed to repeat history even provided with the most advanced technology the world has ever known to pull up the full report of history in the palm of our hands.
I never said it was nonsense. I said what a lot of people were worried about was nonsense- stuff like it causing nuclear armageddon or crashing the global economy.
And this event today isn’t even what IT professionals were worried about. This is a big headache for them and a day off for a lot of other people. It’s not going to do the damage Y2K would have done had people not done enough.
Real life Armageddon: Bruce Willis & crew return home and are greeted by boos and protestors with “waste of taxpayer money” signs. Can you imagine…
The United States would never send a crew up to stop an asteroid. If it’s a Dem president, SCOTUS would block it. If it’s Donald, he’d claim the asteroid is fake news and a Dem hoax, then the scoundrels in the House and Senate would obstruct any action via their little bunkers.