EP 133: Y2K

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Y2K Bug, also known as Y2K Problem or simply Y2K. This refers to a historical incident…that never really happened. At least not to the degree that it was proposed it would. As a recent survey reports, some 46% of people believed that - when the year changed from 1999 to 2000 - all hell would break loose. This was because it was believed that particular computer programs that only allowed for two year digits (for example, simply 99 as opposed to 1999) would instantly stop working when the date descended to 00 at the turn of the year (i.e., computers would not be able to distinguish the year 2000 from the year 1900). And these computer programs went beyond just not being able to operate your Word Perfect document (Haha…another millennial joke). No, these computer programs extended to airline reservations, banking software, utilities, medical equipment, infrastructure, power plants, government programs, nuclear weapon controls, and more. Should all hell break loose, we were looking at a global disaster that would cost somewhere between $300 and $600 billion to remedy!

As we all know now in hindsight, nothing particularly noteworthy occurred as the world rang in the year 2000. Sure, some small businesses experienced some computer programming issues…but did airlines and banks come crashing down? No. Whether this is due to the efforts that had been put into place leading up to the event to resolve potential issues (such as President Bill Clinton’s Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act) OR if the whole Y2K Bug was just a big hoax, is still debated to this day.

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- Rachel and Leah