Most everyone was ready anyway. Had the entire world power grid and economic infrastructure suffered a catastrophic collapse Bubba had a brand new 3500 watt generator and a five gallon can of gas with 15 - 50' 16 gauge extension cords leading over to his cousins trailer too. It pays to be prepared.
Are there non carbon based life forms?
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DutchmenSport
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The problem with Y2K was the fact that very few computer systems were coded to accommodate a date past Dec 31, 1999. If putting in January 1, 2000 the greatest scare was, the computer systems would simply not respond (or crash).
I was working in IT at that time also, computer engineers and every business that depended on computer technology were very, very much aware of the disastrous potential of the date problem.
As NY_Dutch said above, a LOT of work went into computer coding to correct the date. The development and the upgrading of every system, from a local bank to a gas station to the computer banks at the Pentagon were corrected to overcome. And the end of the world did not happen.
I was working in IT at that time also, computer engineers and every business that depended on computer technology were very, very much aware of the disastrous potential of the date problem.
As NY_Dutch said above, a LOT of work went into computer coding to correct the date. The development and the upgrading of every system, from a local bank to a gas station to the computer banks at the Pentagon were corrected to overcome. And the end of the world did not happen.
Skookum
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Yes...and I think there's a comparison to be drawn there with AI. There are people who have a much better scope and who are much closer to the development of AI than the general public, just like there was with Y2K. The general public...many who believe or fear things like AI is going to escape from a lab and turn all the Alexa and Roomba devices into an army to enslave humans. 
Millennium Bug... funny story. Just before this happened i.e. 1998 I started work for a major off road machinery manufacturer in the UK. As I was the 'new guy' I was asked to assist the 'Millennium Bug' consultant. I didn't know what I was doing but it felt important. We would go around every piece of machinery or equipment on the factory site that had a computer board with 'chips' on it. This was everything from the crude CNC machines to the lift on the office block. We would plug our laptop directly over any IC with special plugs and scan for anything that looked like it was counting time. We never really found anything of consequence and by unplugging some of the live memory devices a couple of the CNC machines lost their programming. I was the scape goat for the Consultant and I became known as the 'Millennium Bug' in the local bar for a while. It was all fun with our guys but the Consultant got a bad name afterwards. I certainly called him lots of bad names... I was much younger and easily excited back then. Have a good day all...
Regards Steven
Regards Steven
Larry N.
Well-known member
This is definitely the case! At the time I'd just retired from AT&T and was hiring as Unix system admin with various agencies. During much of that time I was contracted to Lucent, and we had a dozen or so people in my location (far from the only one) helping customers (non-Lucent, including many mentioned above) to update certain systems (just one of many different types of systems they dealt with) day after day after day doing multiple updates per day (we were the tech support for this) just specifically for correcting the Y2K bug.
And what I saw was hardly even the tip of the iceberg of what was going on.
Had those humongous efforts not taken place, the predicted disasters WOULD have happened, but thanks to the major (and expensive) efforts, it was ho-hum for most folks out there.
OP
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jymbee
Well-known member
Yes indeed. I suppose if I posted precisely what I think when it comes to all the science deniers out there who thought it was a big joke, I might get banned here.
I wasn't too worried, the minute they said Wall Street and the Global Banking System could lose money, I knew this was in the bag.Yes indeed. I suppose if I posted precisely what I think when it comes to all the science deniers out there who thought it was a big joke, I might get banned here.
NY_Dutch
Well-known member
I suspect not many people are also aware of the massive amount of programming updates that took place for a few years after Y2K to replace work-arounds that were put in place to temporarily get past the date issues.
Skookum
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Yes indeed. I suppose if I posted precisely what I think when it comes to all the science deniers out there who thought it was a big joke, I might get banned here.
Hopefully I have not drawn your ire, that was not my intent. And I absolutely agree, y2k was pretty much a non-event globally because of smart minds.
My reference was to the various conspiracy theories that swirled back then. Now there’s a bunch swirling about AI.
Let’s teach AI how to do the laundry and put clothes away first. That’s actually doable…global domination…maybe not yet.
I visited a hospital facility recently and they have an AI-powered robot that can fetch supplies, run patient medications, and deliver lab samples. Pretty neat!
Starting in 1997 our entire programming staff worked for 726 days out of 730 days, 12-18 hours per day, every holiday but New Years. Most programmers quit or were fired. On holidays we would set the computers dates to 7/1/2001 to test. Everything was working by November 1999. The real reward was I was allowed to work independently without any supervision for my last 20 years. No reward could have been greater than that.
OP
OP
jymbee
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Not in the least. I think we're on the same page here when it comes to all the conspiracy theories floating around out there with respect to AI as well as a myriad of other topics.
DutchmenSport
Well-known member
Robotics and AI is the future and there may be no human jobs. If you don't think you can be replaced you are wrong. ChapGPT can write college essays, poetry, and even computer code. As Elon Musk pointed out, computers that write their own code will eliminate our safety protocols to be more efficient then become dangerous to us.
In the late 90's our company started having a labor shortage because most Americans under 25 consider themselves "too good" to work in a factory. Without employing immigrants we would have had to scale back our plants in CA and TX. We had to partner with a Mexican manufacturer to maintain our level of growth. My job for the past 25 years was to reduce the number of plant employees required by automating factory machines. Which I also had to do in our plant in Mexico. It's the only way we can compete with China.
When I retired 4 years ago we were doubting the need for even 1 human per plant. With visual and audio sensors the 1 human can be replaced. I never got there but after 20 years I did cut the number of humans from 300 to 175 average. If I wasn't so burned out from playing the management politics I would have stayed another 10 years to finish the job.
Skookum
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The US economy had moved on from hourly manufacturing jobs at that point. It's not that people were "too good", or that working in manufacturing wasn't worthwhile, it was that a job in manufacturing couldn't offer what many other sectors of the economy offered at the time, which is to say, a lot more. The answer for your company was to employ immigrants - the only people willing to work for so little compared to what they could find back home.
Since we paid at least twice minimum wage in plants located in places like IA, MS, and TN it was not the money. Our company suffered from the entitlement problem younger people have now. And as I said immigrants were the solution. In CA and TX the majority didn't speak English.
Skookum
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Federal minimum wage in 1998 was $5.75. Again, it's not so much entitlement as the availability of better jobs and better paying jobs. Unemployment, nationally, the same year was around 4%. The historical data, as well as my own experience as....apparently, someone who suffered from "entitlement" in your words...was working during that time frame and no, I wasn't working in a factory -- because that would have sucked. It was easy enough to find a better job and/or a job which paid more.
I think the entitlement the younger folks may enjoy is knowing there's more to life than spending it working a dead end job factory job in MS or TN. Especially when twice the minimum wage still leaves a single mother or father with two kids below the poverty threshold. Even WalMart pays twice the minimum wage now and they struggle with a 100% turnover rate.
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jymbee
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I would just add that, despite the typical negative implications, not all factory jobs are created equal. There are some folks working in factories that love their job, take pride in their work, and are treated very well.
You can order a Little Caesars Pizza for pickup and never interact with a person, they have a pickup portal in the lobby, scan the QR code with your phone and a glass door with your order opens.
Our local McDonalds franchises don't have anyone at the physical location taking drive thru orders, when you pullup you're talking with a call center in Colorado, I've read it's proven to be much more efficient by means of reducing order errors.
Amazon is experimenting with near fully automated grocery stores with scanners which monitor what you pick up off the shelf and what you put back, there's no checkout, when you exit it auto bills your method of payment.
You can download an app at Sam's Clubs, scan your purchases with your phone and never interact with anyone until you are scanned out the door by the checker who randomly checks three items and/or any electronics.
Robert Putnam described the "reduction in all forms of social interaction" in the book 'Bowling Alone' arguing that it undermines active civic engagement, which a strong democracy requires. I would argue however too, this toothpaste isn't going back in the tube.
Ray-IN
Well-known member
Yup, I liked my factory job, at which I was paid $50/hr.
