Heh, Y2K. My library has a small section of books (approx. 4-5) about how you can survive Y2K. I read through some of them, laughing about the BS predictions inside.
Having been involved in the Y2K effort (and, no, not being paid more for it, so no vested interest, especially after the fact) I know that in my small subset of responsibility there were definitely "Hmmm, we better replace this hardware just in case" situations that was really just an excuse for getting new hardware under a separate budget from the usual acquisition ones.
But while the world wasn't going to end even if the truly non-Y2k stuff that the overly-bureaucratic process actually identified had been left in place (just some possibly bad effects upon business flows, etc, which would have taken a lot of scrambling around to fix), some things definitely would have had problems.
I can't see my area having had a significant knock-on effect with power/policing/government infrastructures (though I can't rule out healthcare, albeit removed by a couple of links), but who can say what I don't know? And failure of some systems could have made the organisation fail, financially, forcing it to lay people off. Combined with all the other businesses (small->megacoorporation) that simultaneously fail and it could have had a financial knock-on effect on the national/global employment[1] and we all know what happens when markets have a
little crash.
The thing is, without a magic door between this world and the parallel Earth[2] in which most people didn't bother with this stuff , it's hard to quantify what was averted. Maybe no planes would have fallen from the sky[3] and no nuclear reactors would have blown up, but its very hard to tell from a layperson POV.
Not saying that anything would have done, but you can't say it was
all a waste of time and effort if you don't such a portal handy. And, if you do, maybe you could see if my opposite number is doing better, and perhaps would consider some sort of inter-universe charitable donation? Gold bars only, please. Or possibly some choice bits of IP that can be "appropriated" to fill a gap in this world's markets. (Might even be able to swap for something that is inadvertently lacking over on that side!
)
[1] First World, at least. Which makes me wonder if Indian call-centres were as ubiquitous, then. Can't recall.
[2] Possibly a doorway that I'm keeping heavily barred to prevent the ingress of looters! If not one that parallel-me has barred to prevent
my plundering of the better world.
[3] Certainly, in the half-way world where ATC organisations made sure they were Ok, along with everything from power generating companies to ambulance dispatching organisations, they probably wouldn't have even if there was financial chaos overtaking and demolishing the likes of companies making soft toys, curly straws, fence-posts, pre-fabricated houses, those little "form curl" packing material bits, the nibs of 'bic'-style disposable ball-point pens, legacy spare parts for Ford Anglia cars, moulded RJ11 plug-and-cable assemblies, etc, etc...
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Topic: Solar Flares and Blackouts... (Read 3317 times)