Some computer programmers are sitting at a desk in the late 70's. They come to a decision: to use two digits for the date instead of four. So '1998' is shortened to '98'. Which works just fine, until midnight on December 31st 1999 when that counter clicks over from 99, to 00. By doing so, this saved a lot of valuable, expensive, and rare memory space (back then). It was a responsible and logical decision. But, without the first two digits of the year, the computer cannot know that it is the year 2000, and must effectively work on the presumption that it is 1900, all over again. Of course the programmers who created this system could foresee this would cause a problem, but as well as a degree of short-termism there was a widespread disbelief that anyone would be using the same computers and programs nearly thirty years later. They were wrong, and thus started a chain of events that was going to lead to the "Apocalypse".

The chaos that came from these programmers' decision would forever change the fate of the world as we know it. At first, only the people that dealt with computers in their everyday life knew about the so-called "Y2K bug". And they didn't care too much about it because they, being programmers, could fix the program whenever it got near the time for it to happen. Supposedly, planes were going to crash, banks were going to shut down, and everything that could go bad, was going to. But it didn't happen.

When I first heard of the millennium bug, I was very intrigued by the ramification of a massive computer shut down, but I was also immediately bewildered by the lack of specific examples of ways that the computers will go haywire. All I could see around me were repeated descriptions of what "might" go wrong or what "could" go wrong when all the clocks ring in the year 2000. Creating a doomsday scenario is extremely easy, and in today's pre-nuclear war society, finding some media outlet to broadcast such warnings is even easier.

The most obvious problem with the Y2K bug is the fact the Year 2000 is already being factored in various computer calculations. The only connection computers have to the concept of time is what we program into them. If we were going to have a Y2K meltdown it would have already started. Things like insurance policies, bonds, product expiration dates, budget outlays, repair schedules, driver licenses, credit cards, and a host of planning programs are all currently using dates that stretch past the year 2000. The simple fact we're not constantly hearing about one computer system after another going crazy, should tell us the problem is apparently rather limited in scope. If most cash registers are currently excepting credit cards with expiration dates that go beyond the new millennium, it's hard to argue that they'll fail to do so when the year 2000 arrives.

Another big problem with the Y2K scenario is the fact very few programs operate on a date system that includes the year. When we got to the year 2000, the only item in my house that knew it'd arrived is the computer I'm now typing on. Even in the average work place, there's a limited quantity of computers and equipment that recognizes the year. Some electronic items you would assume make use of the year, in fact do not. I was surprised to learn the computers aboard the global positioning satellites (GPS), that circle our planet, lack yearly calendars. I've seen a number of Y2K news stories that featured traffic lights blinking out of control. As far I've been able to find out, there is no known traffic light on the market that has a system employing the full year. It's also been widely reported that the millennium bug might cause nuclear missiles to launch themselves. Accidentally launching a nuclear missile isn't exactly as easy as setting off your smoke detector. There are a number of mechanical and physic al processes that need to occur before a missile can be can fired.

Nearly every Y2K alarmist will mention the subject of embedded microchips. They'll first inform you how important integrated circuits are, running just about everything electronic. Microchips are found in coffee makers, microwaves, blenders, dishwashers, and televisions. The praise of the microchip instantly turns ugly when we're told a large percentage of these chips will fail come the year 2000. The vast majority of chips have nothing to do with time and dates.

In order to fix the problem, companies had to hire maintenance (as in computer maintenance, not like an air conditioner maintenance man) people to try and fix the problem. Or maybe they were just going to straight out invest their money in new computers. But, if they hired someone to fix the problem and the people were unsuccessful, guess what? They had to buy more computers. Especially, if their business is based around computers. Which, in today's society is almost every business. Computers make business revolve around them, not the other way around.

So who benefits the most from companies having to replace all the computers in their business? The computer companies of course. I'm talking about APPLE, IBM, DELL, and the other companies that spread this false information further. They only reason this whole thing even went mainstream is from the fact that the computer companies helped promote it. They went on record as saying, "We can't do anything to help solve the problem...other than to sell you a Y2K compliant computer." In other words, "We screwed up all the computers back in the 80's so that we can get you to buy our really expensive, Y2K Compliant computers now!"

Conspiracy? You tell me...<.P>

-Matt

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