WEBVTT - Looking Back and Learning from the Y2K Scare

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. Hey, Carol, you remember y

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<v Speaker 1>two k right, really really good? You were actually working

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<v Speaker 1>here at Bloomberg.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think I had just started. And one of

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<v Speaker 2>the things that we were thinking about big time was

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<v Speaker 2>what happens when we go from nineteen ninety nine to

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<v Speaker 2>two thousand and apparently that can be somewhat difficult, sophisticated,

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<v Speaker 2>complicated when it comes to technology and computing devices, Like

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<v Speaker 2>what does that mean?

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<v Speaker 3>Right?

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<v Speaker 2>You go from a year that you specified right with

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<v Speaker 2>two digits to office and you really needed all four?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes?

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<v Speaker 2>Can I just tell you that we were all of

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<v Speaker 2>us in the news team. We went home, We were

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<v Speaker 2>given walkie talkies and everything because we thought in case

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<v Speaker 2>the phones don't work, and we had to be ready

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<v Speaker 2>for when in I guess Asia, or whenever it struck

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<v Speaker 2>two thousand around the globe first for like the world

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<v Speaker 2>to come undone, and I got to sell Unlike I remember,

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<v Speaker 2>like we're waiting, we're waiting, nothing.

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<v Speaker 1>Happened, Nothing happened. Well, in new HBO documentary takes us

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<v Speaker 1>back to that time. It's called time Bomb y two

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<v Speaker 1>K HY two K, what doesn't mean using two digits

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<v Speaker 1>rather than four made good economic sense.

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<v Speaker 4>But when workers advanced clocks to the year two thousand,

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<v Speaker 4>the world can melt down.

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<v Speaker 3>Our systems are broken, and we've got a problem with

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<v Speaker 3>a couple of digits.

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<v Speaker 4>This has to be solved.

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<v Speaker 1>All right. That was a clip just from time Bomb

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<v Speaker 1>y two K, new documentary on HBO, taking us back

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<v Speaker 1>to the years ahead of Y two K and all

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<v Speaker 1>the chaos and prepping and fears about power grids failing,

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<v Speaker 1>nuclear arsenals being at risks, planes falling out of the sky.

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<v Speaker 1>People were very worried. Carol Well, Brian Becker and Marley

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<v Speaker 1>MacDonald are the documentary filmmakers and producers behind time Bomb

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<v Speaker 1>y two K. They join us on Zoom from New York.

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<v Speaker 1>Good to have you both with us this afternoon. Brian,

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<v Speaker 1>I want to start with you, why make a documentary

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<v Speaker 1>about Y two K twenty four years later?

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<v Speaker 4>So when Marlee and I first thought of this idea

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<v Speaker 4>and started looking into it, it was the summer of

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<v Speaker 4>twenty twenty and the first images you see when you

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<v Speaker 4>google back YTK are shots of empty grocery store shelves

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<v Speaker 4>and people checking out palettes of water and toilet paper

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<v Speaker 4>at the supermarket and people in line at the gun store,

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<v Speaker 4>and those images felt awfully familiar to us, as given

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<v Speaker 4>the reality we were living through in the depths of

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<v Speaker 4>the pandemic. We knew there was a countdown, We knew

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<v Speaker 4>from our research that there was extensive footage and media

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<v Speaker 4>coverage of the event, and kind of living in that

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<v Speaker 4>moment of the pandemic made us realize that it wasn't

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<v Speaker 4>just a countdown, It wasn't just something that we lived

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<v Speaker 4>through and then had mostly forgotten about. It also had

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<v Speaker 4>we thought lessons for our present moment.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I gotta say, Marley, I just remember doing interviews,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, leading up to it. In every conversation, certainly

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<v Speaker 2>if it was even just a general market and interview,

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<v Speaker 2>it was like, okay, so how are you guys planning

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<v Speaker 2>for Y two K? And concerns that you know, if

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<v Speaker 2>things come undone and you know, we can't track investments

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<v Speaker 2>or market stone, you know, work properly. Having said that,

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<v Speaker 2>when you and Brian went to pitch this where people like, wait, wait,

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<v Speaker 2>what was Y two K? Because it's a long time ago.

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<v Speaker 3>Definitely, Well, everyone who lived through it remembers it, which

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<v Speaker 3>definitely works in our favor when pitching this around and

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<v Speaker 3>was a really special part of making this project. When

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<v Speaker 3>you tell someone you're working on a movie about why

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<v Speaker 3>do You Kate, everyone has to tell you what they

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<v Speaker 3>were doing New Year's Eve nineteen ninety nine, But.

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<v Speaker 2>I just tell you one of my producers I think

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<v Speaker 2>was in kindergarten, so that kind of like at home. Anyway, continue, please, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>Brian and.

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<v Speaker 3>I became historians of what everyone was doing on New

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<v Speaker 3>Year's Eve nineteen ninety nine. But when we first started

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<v Speaker 3>looking into the project, you know, the first question that

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<v Speaker 3>comes up is was this a joke or was this real?

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<v Speaker 3>And you know a lot of people remember why two

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<v Speaker 3>K as a hoax? And it took us months of

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<v Speaker 3>research to come to the conclusion that it was a

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<v Speaker 3>very real problem that was solved. And we did that

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<v Speaker 3>by talking to a lot of computer programmers and talking

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<v Speaker 3>to a lot of people who actually worked on the issue,

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<v Speaker 3>and so we knew we could kind of reclaim this

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<v Speaker 3>narrative in this movie and shine a light on all

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<v Speaker 3>the work and labor that went into actually fixing this

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<v Speaker 3>very real problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Mart Marley, can you talk about the style here. I enjoyed.

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<v Speaker 1>I enjoyed the film, but I was surprised to see

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<v Speaker 1>the way that the documentary was structured in the sense

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<v Speaker 1>that there's no narrator, and it's nobody looking back or

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<v Speaker 1>remembering or or there are no recollections. It's purely based

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<v Speaker 1>on archival footage on videos that were sold at the time,

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<v Speaker 1>news reports, home videos talk a little bit about building

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<v Speaker 1>it in that sense.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So we knew we wanted to do it all

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<v Speaker 3>archival from the jump, because one, there was just enough footage.

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<v Speaker 3>There was a lot of footage, and when we first

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<v Speaker 3>started working with the material, we realized that, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>everything was sort of there, and that if we kept

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<v Speaker 3>it in the world of all archival, we could really

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<v Speaker 3>kind of make this countdown feel more present, tense, feel

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<v Speaker 3>like a time capsule of that actual moment. And Brian

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<v Speaker 3>is an archival producer and found, you know, along with

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<v Speaker 3>our team all of that footage. We ended up with

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<v Speaker 3>over seven hundred hours of footage, and as far as

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<v Speaker 3>the structure of the film goes, we knew that we

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<v Speaker 3>wanted to sort of replicate the way that Y two

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<v Speaker 3>K worked in the world. So starting with the technical problem,

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<v Speaker 3>watching it sort of radiate out of cubicles and into

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<v Speaker 3>the social consciousness and then follow that to sort of

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<v Speaker 3>the fringes of America. And we knew we had to

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<v Speaker 3>get to midnight at.

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<v Speaker 2>Some point as you went through the footage and you

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<v Speaker 2>guys were gathering at Brian, I mean, what was it

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<v Speaker 2>that kind of jumped out? Was there certain things that like,

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<v Speaker 2>oh my god, Like it was just kind of interesting

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<v Speaker 2>because there was real nervousness about how does my play out?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I mean there's a certain attraction always to footage

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<v Speaker 4>that is kind of unbelievable to watch in the present,

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<v Speaker 4>whether it be you know, a tape made by a

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<v Speaker 4>militia titled why to K Why Should I Care? I

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<v Speaker 4>don't even on a computer. But I think what we

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<v Speaker 4>really started looking for most specifically in the footage were

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<v Speaker 4>moments that could clearly tether us from present to past.

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<v Speaker 4>Because we didn't include interviews with individuals in the present day.

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<v Speaker 4>We were looking for kind of moments of emotion or

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<v Speaker 4>introspection or relevance between them and now. But of course,

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<v Speaker 4>you know, when Matt Damon is recorded speaking about the

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<v Speaker 4>nuclear arsenal and his fear of the nuclear arsenal, potentially

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<v Speaker 4>shutting down. You kind of have to also include things

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<v Speaker 4>like that in your movie.

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<v Speaker 1>A very young Matt Damon promoting at the time the

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<v Speaker 1>talented mister Ripley. I should note, Hey, Brian, did you

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<v Speaker 1>hear Have you heard from any of these folks who

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<v Speaker 1>were featured.

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<v Speaker 3>In this Yes?

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<v Speaker 4>Thanks for asking that we actually have relationships with all

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<v Speaker 4>of the individuals who we built scenes around in this film.

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<v Speaker 4>It didn't feel fair for us to include their historic

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<v Speaker 4>likenesses in our feature without talking to them first to

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<v Speaker 4>gauge what y TK meant to them. So, for example,

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<v Speaker 4>Peter Diager, who is one of the first individuals who

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<v Speaker 4>kind of brought y t K to the public's attention,

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<v Speaker 4>I spent two days in his basement with him outside

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<v Speaker 4>of Toronto. He just published a new book focused on

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<v Speaker 4>computer management, and we just appeared on Peter's podcast about why,

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<v Speaker 4>which I can plug here. Candace Turner, who in the

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<v Speaker 4>film calls herself farmer Jane. I emailed with Candace this

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<v Speaker 4>morning and I went to her farm in Sarcoxi, Missouri.

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<v Speaker 4>She moved there and she lived there in events in

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<v Speaker 4>the lead up to YTK, and she still lives on

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<v Speaker 4>that very same farm. I went to her mud room

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<v Speaker 4>and came back to New York with some VHS tapes

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<v Speaker 4>of hers toscin ins in d C. So we do

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<v Speaker 4>have relationships with these people.

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<v Speaker 1>I want to get back to Brian Becker and Marley McDonald.

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<v Speaker 1>They are the documentary filmmakers and producers behind the new

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<v Speaker 1>HBO documentary Time Bomb y two K. They join us

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<v Speaker 1>on Zoom from New York.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, it's interesting, Brian and Marley that it's been

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<v Speaker 2>a week where Tim and I have been talking a

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<v Speaker 2>lot about the risks in twenty twenty four. We certainly

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<v Speaker 2>did at the end of last year and into the

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<v Speaker 2>new year, but this week, you know, some of the

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<v Speaker 2>concerns were big time. The November elections and basically the

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<v Speaker 2>US against itself geopolitics certainly came up, and it made

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<v Speaker 2>Tim and I think about how your documentary kind of

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<v Speaker 2>ends up. We're essentially just before midnight in the US

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<v Speaker 2>December thirty first, nineteen ninety nine. You have Boris Yeltsin, right,

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<v Speaker 2>conceding power to Vladimir Putin, who would take over to

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<v Speaker 2>lead what was then what the Soviet Union, right.

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<v Speaker 1>It was just Russia. Yeah, and there's this ominous sort

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<v Speaker 1>of moment from the newscaster that says, you know, Putin

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<v Speaker 1>wants this to be a strong Russia, but has no

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<v Speaker 1>ambitions beyond like for expansion and to get bigger.

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<v Speaker 2>Here we are twenty four years later, and we know

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<v Speaker 2>that that's very different. But I do wonder how you

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<v Speaker 2>guys are thinking about having gone through this process, about

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<v Speaker 2>some of the risks and the concerns that are out

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<v Speaker 2>there today, and coming off a global pandemic that really

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<v Speaker 2>made us all realize whoa our life can change dramatically,

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<v Speaker 2>and our life vibes are at risk.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know, it's an interesting thing. So our movie

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<v Speaker 3>actually premiered at a festival last March, and during the

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<v Speaker 3>Q and a's at that time, a lot of the

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<v Speaker 3>questions were relating our film to COVID. Then sometime over

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<v Speaker 3>the summer, the question started to become about the threat

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<v Speaker 3>of AI. And so it's interesting to kind of see

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<v Speaker 3>how this movie moves through the world as it continues,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, going through different existential threats. And that's I

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<v Speaker 3>think what we wanted to do with this film is

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<v Speaker 3>really examined the ways in which America faces existential threats

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<v Speaker 3>and kind of the focus on how interconnected and dependent

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<v Speaker 3>we are on each other and really highlighting that aspect

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<v Speaker 3>of getting through things like Y two K or COVID.

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<v Speaker 1>Every time I think that we collectively go through an

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<v Speaker 1>experience that will somehow bring us closer together as citizens,

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<v Speaker 1>I turn out to be wrong. I felt this way

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<v Speaker 1>to in COVID. That's sort of like everybody was in

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<v Speaker 1>this together and it would be in this uniting force.

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<v Speaker 1>And I look at the landscape right now, Brian, and

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<v Speaker 1>I think that we've never been more divided ever than

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<v Speaker 1>we have been right now.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I mean I feel the same too, Tim. Why

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<v Speaker 4>two K almost feels like this dry run in which

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<v Speaker 4>we actually did succeed in solving a problem and then,

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<v Speaker 4>of course, in very American fashion, quickly dismissed it as

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<v Speaker 4>a joke or as a hoax after we went through it.

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<v Speaker 4>It almost feels as if we worked on it so

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<v Speaker 4>well and solved it to an extent that we would

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<v Speaker 4>have learned more if more things went wrong after the

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<v Speaker 4>clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve nineteen ninety nine. Instead,

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<v Speaker 4>we kind of missed this opportunity to think so much

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<v Speaker 4>about how our lives had come to depend upon technology

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<v Speaker 4>and also on each other tune.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, it's kind of interesting on a day where

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<v Speaker 2>safe to say, we all got fooled about the approval

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<v Speaker 2>by the SEC of a spot bigcoin etf where a

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<v Speaker 2>headline crossed on Twitter from the official SEC account, and

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<v Speaker 2>then ten minutes later the chair of the SEC comes

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<v Speaker 2>out and said, Nope, that's not correct. They have not

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<v Speaker 2>received approval and that the SEC Twitter account was compromised.

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<v Speaker 2>You just realize how quickly and how vulnerable we are

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<v Speaker 2>and reliant on technology, and how things can be misconstrued

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<v Speaker 2>got wrong, and you just, I don't know, when you

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<v Speaker 2>start to extrapolate that, you just wonder kind of tim

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<v Speaker 2>where we could go with this.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and also, you know, it was so interesting to

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<v Speaker 1>see that the way technology is shifted, and you know,

0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.960
<v Speaker 1>it's been a quarter century roughly since since this time period,

0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.959
<v Speaker 1>but the technology shifts that we've seen have been absolutely massive.

0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:54.520
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.480
<v Speaker 1>Reliance, Yeah, reliance is and it's and there's this picture

0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.560
<v Speaker 1>there was a picture painted Barley in the nineteen nineties

0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.880
<v Speaker 1>about the optimism about technology. And I'm wondering if you

0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.240
<v Speaker 1>think that the optimism that these folks in the nineties

0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.400
<v Speaker 1>talked about and alluded to about school children being able

0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:16.480
<v Speaker 1>to access information at any time, has actually manifested in

0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.440
<v Speaker 1>something that looks optimistic or looks you know, scary. I mean,

0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.480
<v Speaker 1>there's there's talk about parents being concerned about TikTok, mental

0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.480
<v Speaker 1>health and social media, government controlled this stuff. I mean,

0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:26.320
<v Speaker 1>what are your thoughts there?

0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.839
<v Speaker 3>Certainly, I'm very concerned with the state of our relationship

0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.440
<v Speaker 3>to technology, and I think that was something that we

0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.560
<v Speaker 3>really wanted to sort of capture that techno optimism of

0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.319
<v Speaker 3>the nineties in our film. You know, this was the

0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:44.199
<v Speaker 3>first time that people were really welcoming computers into their lives.

0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.200
<v Speaker 3>You know, it was at their office or in their

0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.640
<v Speaker 3>home for the first time. But I think what YGK

0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.200
<v Speaker 3>revealed is just how dependent we actually already were on

0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.400
<v Speaker 3>computer systems that we weren't seeing, you know, to get

0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.320
<v Speaker 3>on the train or how we get the news in

0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.559
<v Speaker 3>the morning. Like everything had our already been kind of

0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.880
<v Speaker 3>operated by these giant systems, but we hadn't come face

0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.520
<v Speaker 3>to face with that. So I think y g Q

0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:11.640
<v Speaker 3>was an interesting moment for kind of deconstructing our reliance

0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.520
<v Speaker 3>on technology. But yeah, as far as where we've come today,

0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.839
<v Speaker 3>you know, we've only gone deeper in that hole, Mike.

0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.320
<v Speaker 3>Brian says, it could have been a moment where we

0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.200
<v Speaker 3>had pivoted and maybe taken a different route. But because

0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.040
<v Speaker 3>we did get in front of the problem and solve it,

0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.120
<v Speaker 3>we've just gone further and further down this road. And

0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.160
<v Speaker 3>if something like this were to happen today, you know

0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.000
<v Speaker 3>the same questions would arise.

0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.840
<v Speaker 1>Hey, we only have about thirty seconds left, Brian, but

0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.160
<v Speaker 1>I want to give you the last word. What's the

0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:39.440
<v Speaker 1>next thing you guys are working on.

0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.960
<v Speaker 4>I'm working on a film about the rise and fall

0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:50.160
<v Speaker 4>of the American enclosed shopping mall, and Marle opensity to describe.

0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.080
<v Speaker 3>What you're working out I'm working on. I'm developing a

0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.080
<v Speaker 3>film based on the archives at the Museum of Natural

0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:01.240
<v Speaker 3>History and the origins of natural history museums. Very cool.

0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.440
<v Speaker 1>Big thank you to both of you for joining us.

0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.080
<v Speaker 1>Everybody check out the new film. It's on HBO. It

0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.680
<v Speaker 1>is all about y two K. It's called time Bomb

0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:12.960
<v Speaker 1>y two K. A big thank you to our guests

0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.840
<v Speaker 1>Brian Becker and Marley McDonald, the documentary filmmakers and producers

0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:17.080
<v Speaker 1>behind Time Bomb.