Y2K and ME
Both ends of the spectrum deal with the Y2K or Year Two Thousand issue. There is ignorance, apathy, denial or at the other end doomsday predictions. Which one you believe depends upon the information you receive and your personality disposition.
The average person that does not use a computer has no clue what is going on except for bits and pieces about a Millennial Bug they have heard about and that Y2K has something to do with the year 2000.
While the average person may not know the technical aspects of it, it is the average person that will most affected by it. Many people still do not have personal computers in their home, but they have computers in their cars. They bank at the ATM that is controlled by a computer. Checking, savings and retirement accounts are managed by computers as well as every bill they pay. Inventories of the stores they shop and computers manage government agencies from local to national. The average person is affected in almost every aspect of his/her life by a computer. They have a lot of stock in what happens on Jan 1, 2000.
A brief summary of the issue is that programmers in the 70’s and 80’s did not create a date area to allow the system to roll over to 2000. This means that for business computers that use those programs, COBOL being the primary one, the year 2000 will look like the year 1900. All the files on a computer are dated. Therefore when the main computer clock reads 1900 it will lock up or crash because all the files on the machine will be created after the current date. Anything created in 1999 will not be recognized 99 years before its creation.
Why did they do that? There are several reasons. When these programs were written the ability to store date was limited. Computers were not anywhere near as powerful. So to save space and speed up their systems they did short cuts wherever they could. Did they not foresee the problem? I believe yes and no. They understood that in 2000 they would have a problem, but I believe they thought that by this time software and hardware would change so rapidly that their system would be either completely modified or obsolete. That belief also meant that they felt there was not need to create complex documentation.
They were right in a few areas. Software and hardware has advanced so rapidly that a top of the line personal computer is old six months after you buy it and an antique in about three years. In many ways, the mainframe style computers they designed these programs for are obsolete.
What they did not allow for was that many third world countries and big companies would not be able to or desire to spend the money to make the changeover from non 2000 complaint software and hardware to the complaint ones. Some folks are still looking for the silver bullet. Quick fixes that will just go though the codes and make all the changes fast and cheaply. I do not foresee such a solution.
Why is it so hard? Well, remember the programmers did not document their work so that someone could go into a program and know for sure how the programmer made a specific subroutine function. While everything should work to a standard there are times when the book doesn’t work and innovation and plain luck are what it takes to make it work. If you do not share your innovation through documentation the next programmer that sits down will make a change that should work and it crashes the machine. He then gets innovative and may find what the first one did or he may do something else. All that the first programmer did may not be completely overwritten. So when the third programmer sits down he is looking at code he thinks is by the book and tries something that crashes and away we go again.
When you consider that NASDAQ has 56 systems, 5700 programs 5.5 million lines of code you can see how this can be very tedious and time consuming to fix. Many companies have dumped the old style programs and will have no problems. Many have already fixed, at least to the best of their knowledge, their codes and many are fixing them. Some are waiting for the silver bullet.
The key issue is time. It has been a topic discussed in the Information Technology world since 1990. Confusion, apathy, and procrastination have put us into this short fuse scenario. They are bringing COBOL programmers out of retirement to fix it, but is there enough time? Not for everybody, there will be some caught in a code war on 1/1/00. How many and who and the effect on us will not be known until 0001 hours.
What can a person do? There is nothing any of us not in the industry can do about it. You can call banks, government agencies, etc and ask them if they are compliant. Will you get an honest and straight answer? I do not know. I suspect that if they are honest and they are compliant, you will not feel comfortable until 2000.
Should I hoard money, food and water? Depending on the amount of the chaos, it may all be in vain. In your checklist for supplies be sure to include guns and plenty of ammo. Your neighbors are not likely to say, "Man, I wish I was as smart and Tom and Judy to store up things. Now, I will check starve or die of thirst." If it is known that you have a a stockpile of essentials someone will try and take it from you.
Do you have enough money and storage place to hoard? Some have predicted the problems may take a month to a year to fix. If you hide this stuff away from your primary residence will you be able to get there? When will you leave, six months before?
If you hoard and it doesn’t happen you will have least made a small hedge against inflation. If it is only 50% as bad as some predict, you will most likely lose your stockpile and your life in the riots that will occur.
If this is a prelude to the Anti-Christ then you have some other issues to ponder. If you are Pre-Mill and Pre-tribulational you won’t be around long enough to use your hoard, but you will leave it to lost people and maybe to one of the ones that will be saved in the Tribulation. If you are a Mid-tribulational then it is doubtful that between now and the year 2000 that you will be able to save three and a half years worth of stuff and current currency will be outlawed. You will probably be in a cave or the hills and far from your limited stash. If you are Post-tribulational, unless you are filthy rich you are not going to be able to save seven years worth of stuff and again cash will be useless.
Personally, I do not think the worst case scenario will happen. Am I going to stockpile? I do not think so. I think it will be a waste of time in my circumstance. Should you? It depends on your circumstances. If you are anywhere that can be easily robbed you are probably wasting your time.
While all this seems dark and foreboding, let me share some thoughts. Many are prophesying the end of the world in 2000. Why? Bishop Usher once stated that the creation of the world happened in 4004 BC. Job wasn’t there, but I guess this lad was at the foundation laying. Many believe that we will have 6000 years of human history and then the 1000-year millennium peace before this earth is burned up and we enter a new era.
If Usher was right than the 6000 years was up in 1996 and we are in the Millennium. I don’t think so. Scholars are not sure if Christ was born in 4 BC or 4 AD. There is an eight-year variance. Also, there is no year zero. So are we really in 1998 AD or 1997 to make up for the zero. If Christ was born in 4 AD then we are possibly on at 1993/4. If 4 BC, then we are at 2001/3 already. On September 20th, the Hebrew calendar moved to the year 5759 which means we may have 241 years left of human history. Who has the right calendar? Beats me!!
If it gets really bad in 2000, I guess we may have to finally resort to God giving us our daily bread. The church may be persecuted and grow. Backsliders may return to God and sinners get saved like never before in recent history. Worse yet, some of us may enter the gates of Home. Yes, 2000 is terrifying if we forget this is not our home and we are just passing through and forget who sits on the throne. Whatever happens will be temporal. It may not be fun, but it will allow us to join the ranks of Christians through the ages that knew what these passages really mean.
Phil 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; (KJV)
Phil 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (KJV)
1Thes 3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. (KJV)
II Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (KJV)
