Information Related to "The 2000 Bug: A Time Bomb for Chaos?"
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The 2000 Bug: A Time Bomb for Chaos?
Speculating on the events of the
morning of Jan. 1, 2000, is everyone's business. It's that serious. The passing of
just one day on the calendar has the potential to wreak chaos on the world.
Will communications and transportation fall into near-total disarray with nations'
economies hitting the floorboard, or will the first day of the year 2000 be only
a temporary blip on the activities of mankindñannoying and uncomfortable but manageable?
Edward Yardeni, chief economist for the international investment firm of Deutsche
Morgan Grenfel, predicts a 70 percent chance of a serious global recession. Said
Mr. Yardeni: "If we have everything fixed in the United States (highly unlikely),
but major disruptions in Europe and total calamity in Asia and Latin America, we're
going to be affected in a very, very adverse fashion" (Washington Times).
One big problem is public education. People simply do not grasp the magnitude of
our dependence on computers for nearly every aspect of our lives. We even forget
that our offensive and defensive nuclear-weapons systems are controlled by complex
computer software. One major concern is that Russians are not anywhere near close
to solving the millennium-bug problem resident in their military technology.
The Gartner Group in the United States is one of the leading Y2K research firms in
the world. It recently surveyed 15,000 companies in 81 countries and found, according
to a recent communiqué:
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Sidebar to The Lesson of Y2K: The 'Millennium Bug'
Table of Contents that includes "The 2000 Bug: A Time Bomb for Chaos?"
Other Articles by John Ross Schroeder
Year 2000: