CGC's Reflections

The end of the world

One of the hysteria before the coming of the year 2000 was the impact of technology in our daily lives; particularly the measurement of time as coded in electronic devices. The trouble was, when computers were first created the foresight of the next millenium was not so big in the minds of the developers. Years therefore were coded in two digits, maybe to save space and coding? Note that computers only recognize two signals -- ON (coded as "1") and OFF (coded as "0") -- called the binary system.

In the binary system, 0, 1, are the same, but when you get to "2", there is no such thing in the binary system of codes, "0" and "1". The number 2, therefore becomes "10", the number "3" becomes "11", the number "4" becomes "100", etc. Just imagine then if you go into tens of thousands or millions and larger numbers. It would be a lot of "0" andf "1", stringed together.

And that is the case when telling times in electronic coding. You have to specify the year, the month, the day, the hour, the minute, the second (in so many fractions of a second, if needed). Since electronics recognize only "0" and "1", time like the first second on January 1, 1950 must be differentiated from the last second on December 31 1950. And so on, for each second (or a fraction thereof) "year in, year out".

Then, there are also the leap years to contend with. Not going into details, just accept that to specify time at any given moment -- to be differentiated from any other time -- would be lots and lots of "0" and "1".

To make it leas complex, the year 1980 was abbreviated simply as "80", 1981 => 81, etc. All the electronics of appliances, comouters, sattelites, ships, airplanes, bombs, etc. were so coded. So, lots and lots of gadgets that you use each day.

And, here was the problem that was known for quite sometime and warnings sent by scientists, but no one in government and industry listened soon enough: What happens when the last second of December 31, 1999 arrived and we greet the first second of January 1, 2000?

1999 is "99"

What then would the year 2000 be in the binary code?

2000 becomes "00" because older electronic clocks were coded for the year from 00 to 99 only (in binary code, of course). The thing is "00" is obviously less than "99".

This was dubbed the Y2K (for year 2000) issue.

Well before 1999 of course, most manufacturing. computer and software companies, and others dealing with time measurements have already corrected the problem in new products. So, they would not be affected.

The problem more are in old electronic devices found in many large institutions and government offices, all over the world. Just imagine old electronics in planes not functioning in flight because it was not able to detect the correct time correctly when 2000 came. Or how about bombs suddenly launching? But forget those. Think more of those old computers that run many records of governments, banks, schools, universities, etc., etc. -- from local to state to federal and international. Records would be wiped out, and so would your money deposited in banks, or in mutual funds, etc., etc.

The fear was not unfounded. The only thing was that governments did not act soon enough so that by year 1999, many key machines were still not Y2K compatible. In the height of the hysteria, some people were widthrawing their money, some were expecting the end of the world and were preparing for such eventuality and all sorts of stuff. Experts and talking heads abound in all forms of media. Commissions were created, point men were appointed in all levels of government, and so many things, I can't recall now.

Billions and billions and billions of dollars, yens, punds, etc. were spent by industries, governments, financial institutions, etc., all over the world were committed.

In the end, the end of the world did not come during the first millisecond of January 1, 2000. I think many reporters in all forms of the mass media were so disappointed that the most dire events were not there to report. The experts and talking heads that made their fame and (perhaps some) fortune soon faded away.

Who wanted to hear the good news that the world did not come to an end when New Year 2000 came? Except for the hysteric fear that was replaced at the turn of midnight to augur the New Year 2000, Y2K was old news.

One of the treasured memories I had then was the greeting of the New Year spectacle, from Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, to Asia, Afria, Europe and then back to the USA. A montage of all the fireworks from the major cities of the world were displayed.

One of the most spectacular was the light show that illuminated the Eiffel Tower, and showing the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000. There more whistles and bells in some other cities all over the world. But how could one not recognized one of the most iconic symbols of world -- the Eiffel Tower in Paris.