The Y2K brouhaha

I kept telling people the world wasn't going to end. . . . When I told my friends and family that I was going to spend New Year's Eve in Times Square, they all thought I was crazy. “You'll get trampled! Shot! Stabbed! Blown up! Don't go, you're insane to risk your life like that!”

New Year's came, and the lights stayed on! Of course, the event went off without a hitch, and was spectacular to boot. About 2 million people were there, and there were no problems. There wasn't even a mugging. My experiences leading up to that day, and the dire predictions I heard, remind me of the media's feeding frenzy over Y2K. Granted, the millennium “bug” was a cause for concern, but the mishandling of the situation by fearmongers, opportunists, and publicity hounds was a greater danger than the problem itself. You in the industry had a tough time of it, especially those of you responsible for embedded systems and control electronics for everything from elevators to office building environmental systems. I really feel for you, because I know your lives must have been hell, with users pestering you about the survivability and compatibility of those systems without even knowing the facts of the situation. After the magic day arrived, there were of course some problems, most notably the three-day outage in the spy satellites. But mostly, nothing happened of any consequence, not even in countries where there were no great preparations. One of the reasons for this is that the industry mobilized to secure the vital systems, especially banks, air traffic control, and the stock market. Another reason is that with computer glitches and system failures so prevalent even without the Y2K issue, damage-control in the industry is excellent. What lessons can we draw from this? I think the most basic lesson we have learned is that civilization is too resilient to be destroyed by the loss of any single system. In addition, we in the media must be very careful about what we say, as people do listen to us, and act accordingly. The same goes for industry analysts, technical gurus, and corporate management. We create the environment that we operate in, and we should act with responsibility. And where we as individuals are concerned, we should try to inform ourselves as much as possible in future situations of this nature. Simply keeping your head about you is the best defense in any situation. If I had listened to the doomsayers, I would have missed out on a fantastic celebration. By listening to fearmongers and opportunists, society almost made a similar mistake. Allowing fear to dictate your actions is the worst policy imaginable. As we enter the 21st Century (I know that 2001 is really the proper year, but that is just nitpicking), it would do us well to remember what Franklin Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Alix L. Paultre, Associate Editor

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