valkyre09@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Y2K is one of those stories we look back on and think what a silly old load of nonsense. Truth is, if it wasn’t for the countless hours of overtime people put in to making those outdated systems support the date change, it really would have been utter carnage. You saw how crazy things got when we started to run low on toilet paper for a few weeks.
At a SQL conference, I met a bunch of engineers who were part of the Y2K fix for their companies. They spent 1998 hustling for equipment and setting it up in 1999. Almost all of them were “optimistic” that they’d be fine by September.
But during the rollover, they all said they all did pray to the computer gods.
Yup, covid taught us one thing, when stocking up, prioritize toilet paper first. ;)
And that’s how shortages happen
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It was the same as COVID.
People said if we didn’t do anything, shit would get bad.
So lots of people did lots of stuff, and it wasn’t a big deal.
It’s natural human variation for some people to think it’s always not a big deal. We evolved for it to vary because that’s what helped the overall group survive.
Somebody has to be the first out the cave to see if the wolves are still out there. If we all left at the same time they’d rip everyone to shreds. It helps the group to have a couple idiots around to test if it’s safe.
originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Agree with everything you said except that Covid was still a big deal even with the preparedness
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It seems like it was a big deal.
But we didn’t see mass deaths except when ERs ran out of beds…
Which thankfully wasn’t that often, if we didn’t do anything, they’d have been full everywhere I don’t think you understand how fast society would have broken down if that was happening for a year.
Like if you get in a plane crash and broke a leg, people wouldn’t say they were happy you were ok because broken legs don’t suck, they’d mean you survived.
VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.social 1 year ago
NY had bodies in freezer trucks didn’t it? But ya, it was mostly in certain places and sectors.
meco03211@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Wouldn’t it be more like SARS back in the day? Before covid was cool. Pretty sure I heard we were on the brink of an epidemic but thanks to smart people and less wilfully proud ignorant douche bags, it didn’t.
OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sometimes one’s purpose is only to serve as a warning for others.
KickyMcAssington@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
To shreds you say?