In The Year 2025

So here we are, midway through 2024. That gives us six months to make our New Year’s Eve celebration plans. Collectively, we are all celebrating 25 years from that really big New Year-the Millennium! So where were you for the big one? Even most people who are typically asleep by the time the ball drops were somewhere a bit different or somewhat special at 11:59 PM a quarter century ago. I was in a steamy, hot and humid Key West on a flower draped wrought iron balcony in a lovely Duval Street restaurant overlooking a sea of very happy drunken street revelers. There was music and fireworks and not a care in the world as it became a new century with unlimited potential.

However, there were quite a few people hunkered down expecting the worst. Imagine being cold, wrapped in a blanket, perched in a folding chair inside a cabin in rural Virginia. Watching TV by generator, surrounded by your semi-immediate conspiracy theorist family and friends beside a few hundred cases of Spam- all ready and prepared for Y2K.  Yes, that was an option.

For those who don’t really remember (or are too young) Y2K is an abbreviation for "the Year 2000". It also refers to a computer programming shortcut that was feared would cause major world-wide problems when the year changed from 1999 to 2000.  This led to increasing fears, especially the closer we got to 1999 that computers would be unable to operate at the turn of the millennium, The year 2000 was expected to bring down computer systems, and infrastructures such as those for banking and power plants. This flaw was  also known as the "millennium bug". 

Everyone was being warned to shut down their machines so that their computers did not ‘freak out’ when the clock changed to 12:00 AM on January 1st of 2000. Some feared that the glitch would cause computer systems to literally ‘melt-down’ at midnight. Serious dark theory was that the power would shut off and the entire world would go dark at 12:01. To alleviate the concerns, news stations actually had reporters posted on-site in countries who had their  ‘New Years’ before ours (different time zones) who reported live that everything was still “on” in that part of the world.  

Some people theorized that the Y2K problem could cause banking transactions to be halted, transportation systems to be interrupted, even nuclear safety provisions to be missed. In anticipation of a computer-induced apocalypse, many withdrew large sums of money. They stocked up on non-perishable food, water, and firearms. Others purchased backup generators, seeds, batteries, camping supplies and even bought isolated, rural properties in preparation for a return to a very rustic lifestyle.

In actuality, world leaders took a deadly serious approach to Y2K, and they spent an estimated US $600 billion to prepare for and prevent any issues quite some years in advance. The solutions (planned and initiated before 1998) required the cooperation of governments and institutions around the globe. Leading the charge was John Koskinen, U.S. President Bill Clinton’s hand-picked czar of all Y2K preparations. Koskinen oversaw the $100-billion effort to prevent Y2K catastrophes in the United States, and he presided over a $50-million war room tasked with monitoring all millennium bug-related problems on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

For those who think that because nothing happened at 12:01 on January 1, 2000, that the whole Y2K issue was a hoax may find it interesting that when he was interviewed two decades later Koskinen said “Governments, industries and companies do not spend $100 billion dollars or devote these personnel resources to a problem they think is not serious. The people who knew best were the ones who were working the hardest and spending the most.”

Innumerable computer programmers devoted months and years to implementing fixes. They received scant recognition as the world largely believes it was all imaginary. One programmer recalls the reward for a five-year project at his company: lunch and a pen. The work of re-writing code was a tedious, unglamorous effort, hardly the stuff of heroic narratives — nor conducive to an outpouring of public gratitude, even though some of the fixes put in place in 1998 and 1999 are still used today to keep the world’s computer systems running smoothly. Many have since credited Y2K with creating new jobs and highlighting the importance of information technology employees.

Never fear though, there is more drama to be had. Evidently there is a new computer glitch on the not-too-far horizon. The “Year 2038 Problem” is an actual real issue related to how some software systems store dates. When the date rolls around to (without going into the weeds on the details) January 2038 there could be a serious similar problem in which computers backdate to  December 1901. Theoretically, they have 13.5 years to get it all fixed, but how you feel about all the near and far doomsday theories may influence your approach to planning your celebrations. Maybe it is time to invest in that bucolic, remotely isolated property that you’ve always wanted. It’s never too early to watch your sale flyers for stocking up on sardines, canned tofu and pup tents. Or make your Key West reservations-it’s really up to you. Time (and the calculation of dates) flies whether you’re having fun…or not.

(Credit for the historical/technical information to the Washington Post, The Guardian, Time, Newsweek, Reddit, Google, The New York Times, Global News). 

-Copyright © In The Year 2025, Althea Ramsay Carrigan, High Associates. 2024. All Rights Reserved.

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