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Throwback Thursdays: The Threat Y2K [1]

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Date: 2024-06-06  

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Y2K-associated “get-this-issue-resolved-or-else!” deadline (I mean, what else would you call this moment?), thoughts turn to what could — or would likely — have happened had the issue NOT been resolved.

For those reading either too young to remember or who have zero recollection of Y2K (due to and on account of a brain injury sustained or for some other reason like, say, one suffering from amnesia), but back around 1995, there was a general sense of trepidation coursing through the collective consciousness, the fear being that come zero-hundred hours on January 1, 2000, computers were going to crash.

The potential problem was identified early enough (as early as 1995, the way I remember it) such that software engineers had, in my opinion, sufficient time to resolve the issue and prevent this mass computer CPU-related processing shutdown.

As I understand it, as internal-to-the-computer, battery-powered clocks ticked off the seconds toward year 2000, from the standpoint of the computer, each would see this not as year 2000, but rather as year 00, that is, without a suitable fix being administered. So, where this was concerned, you can definitely see there being cause for concern.

Personally, I wasn’t worried. And, neither should have been the world at large. Of course, I can say that now. Hindsight is 20-20, right? But, had Y2K not been resolved, what I would have feared — along with the then nearly 6 billion world residents — is chaos that likely would have ensued as a result. And that, is apparently why all the fuss.

But, the point is Y2K was kept in check and the transition, as it happened in this regard, did turn out okay. We came through it almost completely unscathed. If there were any issues, they were generally minor in nature.

But, yes, there’s that but. As long as we rely on

and utilize computers as a learning tool, provided this is true out to year 9999, I assume that people then will face a similar situation to Y2K that was faced back in 2000 if Y2K isn’t remembered when the world approaches the year 10,000, which will most likely be termed Y10K, that is, if Y2K isn’t forgotten.



Hey, I’m just sayin’.

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