Leading up to the year 2000, many individuals began to believe that with the turn of the century, computers across the world would fail. This theory was related to the processing of the date of 2000 because experts were unsure whether or not the computer would restart in the year 1990. This was because the year was processed with the last two digits, so 2000 as "00" could have potentially be read as 1900.
The main issue that Y2K brought was the potential of a 21st-century apocalypse. Computers at this point controlled almost everything, from elevators to ballistic missiles. In the case that worldwide computers were to fail and misprocess the date, there was concern that the world would transform into an apocalyptic state. People even went as far as to buy safety houses in the case that the world was to end.
4 comments:
In response to the Y2K, the US government worked with private sectors in order to ensure readiness. It also worked with the Soviet Union to mitigate the possibility of false nuclear attack system.
One potential argument that people might have had at the time was that just because an incorrect date was on a computer or that there was a glitch in the date didn't mean there would be an apocalypse. However, technology was still new in many ways to the masses, and fear of the unknown probably was very convincing in making a huge movement about Y2K.
This event sort of demonstrated how much we relied and still rely on technology at the dawn of a new millennia and how it would be catastrophic if it stopped working. The Time magazine is a good addition to your blog.
How much money was wasted in preparation of this event? Did people try to get rid of their electronical devices? Even though this happened in the beginning of the tech age, we were already relying so heavily on technology early on.
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